The Cutting Edge
by Borderlinefreeze
Summary: SAO; the planet's first ever fully virtual reality. Many flocked to it as a means to experience being the hero. Shigeru Matsuno is one of those people who bought the game, and one of the people who's lives would be changed forever. Is this new world he finds himself in hospitable to people with good hearts? And, in the coming two years, can he remain that way?
1. Prelude

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own the rights to Sword Art Online, nor will I ever. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

I have spent two years inside this machine, unable to get out. I've come so close to death so many times that death is as normal as the clothes on my back. It's followed me like a hungry shark after a bleeding animal. My name is Shigeru Matsuno, and this is my story.


	2. Sword Art Online

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not, nor will I ever own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

Ch. 1: Sword Art Online

The Nervegear, a full dive game console that intercepts your brain signals associated with movement, sight, hearing, feeling, speaking; basically anything not needed to keep vital organs running. The term "full dive" means that you essentially fall asleep after putting on the helmet-like nervegear and wake up inside of the game's virtual world. Full dive is by far mankind's most advanced video game technology ever devised, but the problem is that since the game looks like real life, graphics are as good as they'll get. Some people didn't trust the full dive, but I didn't care when this all started. "This" refers to the "game" Sword Art Online. Sword Art Online was a Virtual Reality Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or VRMMORPG for the nervegear. There were 10,000 hard copies sold in the first day, and that's all that ever sold because of what happened in the game. When I logged in nothing was wrong, I saw the same, somewhat annoying, bright multicolored cylinders fly toward my "eyes" and the spinning silver circles check if my brain signals are being correctly intercepted. I type in my Character name, Shigeo, and type my password. Then in huge bright letters, WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!


	3. Akihiko Kayaba

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not, nor will I ever own Sword art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

**P.S. I will be uploading 1 chapter every week from now on. Thank you.**

Ch. 2: Akihiko Kayaba

Spawning in SAO is sometimes a little disorientating, I mean you just fell asleep and now you wake up in armor with a sword strapped to your body.I like it though, I feel like I belong here better than I do IRL, i never really fit in at school. In school, I was never popular at school, and I didn't get along with people very well and I got in a lot of fights. Little did they know that my dad has been teaching me how to fight since I was born. As I come to my senses about where I am, I take a look at my character menu. When I open it up, I am met with a full frontal view of my avatar. I took a look, I based my Character off of my real life body, it, I, am 6' even, 205lbs, but it is all muscle. Long black hair, sharp jaw line, IRL I have short black hair and I am semi-pale, but in-game I am lightly tanned. I also just changed some facial features such as giving him short stubble underneath his chin like I do IRL, just to make my avatar look about 2 years older than me, but still look similar, but i think my avatar looks cooler. The beginning equipment in SAO consist of a cloth shirt, a pair of pants, a pair of basic boots, beginner's Leather chest armor, and a short sword. You don't want to keep this equipment for very long, so you should get better equipment before the first boss. What I mean by "first" boss is that SAO works by having mini-bosses like any MMORPG but also there are 100 floors in SAO that act like levels, and the goal is to clear all the floors by defeating all of the floor bosses. I went to look around the city to find where everything was. When I got to the city center I had a guy walk up to me.

"Hey, have you seen a guy about my height…?" he was about 4 in. shorter than me. "with short blonde hair, I'm looking for him, we were supposed to find each other after we logged in."

"Sorry, I haven't seen him."

"Oh, ok. Thanks anyway."

"Yeah, your welcome." As he walked away, I briefly thought about my friends who couldn't get the game or the nervegear. I decided that tomorrow I would talk to them about it. I started to leave the town of beginnings to really start playing, so I walked to the nearest field to fight some of the low-level mobs there. Almost as soon as I left the town I saw a boar standing in the field. I walked closer to it to get its attention so it would charge at me. When I was about 20 feet from it, it stopped grazing and looked up to see what was coming closer and closer to it. When I saw it do that I knew that it was ready to attack, and it did. The boar started running as fast as it could straight at me.

"En garde." I said in a slightly sarcastic tone as I draw my sword from behind my back. The only reason I was so calm was because I wasn't afraid of this thing, it only attacks by running straight at you. Too easy. When it is about two feet from hitting me I sidestep and smack it with the side of my sword; it won't down much damage, but it makes it a little more angry. The strike sends it back a few feet… and then it comes back faster. I could have easily dodged it, but I didn't because I was curious how hard this thing hits.

"Lets see what you can do." When it hit me I stopped it dead in its tracks, but not without taking about an eighth of my HP. "Not bad." And then I finish it off with a simple swing type sword skill. I see the red gash appear, it explode into little multicolored shards, and then the drop menu pop up.

"EXP: 22 Col: 36 Items: 0"

"Not Bad." I hear coming from behind a tree.

"I was wondering if you would ever come out. You do realize that I saw you go behind there when I aggroed the boar?" When he stepped out, I got a good look at him. He was about my height, with short blonde hair, and a short sword on his hip.

"I thought about that, but I wanted to see what you were capable of, I must say, I'm impressed. Only thing I don't understand is why you let it hit you."

"Wanted to see how strong is was, pretty good for the first mob encounter in the game."

"Better not let that curiosity get the better of you on the higher floors." he said with a slight hint of mockery in his voice.

"Don't worry about me!" I said in a joking tone.

"Why are you glowing?"

"What? Why are you." We both looked at ourselves then at each other as everything went black for a split second, and then we were suddenly in the center of the Town Of Beginnings with a huge crowd of people around us. "What?"

"How did we get here?" He asked.

"I don't know."

"Um, look at the sky."

"What?" When I look, I see what looks like blood falling from red hexagonal warning symbols and pooling about halfway between the sky and the ground.

"What is that?"

"No idea." Then I realize that the blood is forming into the form of a man.

"Attention players, I welcome you to my world." The mysterious figure says in a booming voice.

"Is that…" I ask myself.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment I am in control of this world."

"It is him." I say. "The creator of Sword Art."

"I'm sure most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus, the logout button." He then opened the main menu. "I assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was designed to be. You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no-one from the outside world will be able to shut down or remove the nervegear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life."

"That's not possible, how did that get around the developers?!" My "friend" asked

"They can't know something that doesn't happen before or while they're testing can they?" I replied.

"No, but that's complete bull!"

"Despite my warning, families and friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the nervegear, an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

"213 people are dead?!" I say.

"How is that possible?" My friend says.

"As you can see, the international media outlets around the world are providing around the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of the nervegear being removed at this point is minimal at best. Hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following, there is no longer any way to revive someone inside the game, if your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There's only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now we are gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor, defeat the boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game. "

"Why should we believe any of the crap you're saying?!" I heard somebody shout.

"This guy wants us to beat an MMO?" I say.

"Oh, and last but not least, I have placed a little present in the item storage of every player, please, have a look." I swipe my hand to open the menu then click on the item storage and took out the "present". When I do, a mirror falls into my hand.

"Why a mirror?" Then I start to glow a bright blue. When the glow stops, I see short black hair, a sharp jawline, brown eyes, and short black hairs on the underside of my chin looking back at me. My real face.

"Hey are you ok?" I hear my friend ask.

"Yeah I'm fine." I look at him, but I see someone I've never seen before, he looked like my friend, but he had long black hair and a clean shaven face instead. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" he responds.

"I'm the real me."

"So am I, I mean I know how the game knows how we look, but why did it change us?"

"I don't know."

"Right now, you're probably wondering why." Kayaba says. "Why would I, Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art online and Nervegear do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one, the reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." As he finished, he evaporated into blood mist and flowed back into the sky and the warnings disappeared.

I couldn't believe it. "We have to beat SAO without dying?"

**If you are still here, thank you. You are the reason I am writing this. I just want to inform that it picks up next chapter, so if it is a little slow now, I apologize. Also, I DO NOT OWN KAYABA'S SPEECH. THIS WAS TAKEN WORD FOR WORD FROM THE ANIME, I DID NOT COME UP WITH IT! I just want that to be known, hank you for understanding, goodbye.**

**P.S. The chapters from here on out will have a minimum word count of 2,500 words, and I will try to and more action and have less writing errors, thank you.**


	4. A New Friend?

**Author's note: I , Borderlinefreeze do not own Sword art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

**P.S. This is where the story really picks up, thank you for waiting this long, I write these for you.**

Ch. 3: A new friend?

It wasn't possible, beat SAO without dying. Nothing like that was possible, I mean we knew what to do, but it just couldn't be done. When Kayaba was done talking i grabbed my friend and we ran from the others.

"Hold on a second!" He said.

"What?! We have to hurry and get to the next town before everyone else does!"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Don't you have friends back there looking for you?"

"No, none of my friends could get the nervegear or SAO; I felt bad for them at first, but now that this happened, I'm happy that they aren't here." I explained.

"Yeah, same here."

"Now, I just have to make sure that I make it back to my friends and family, and I would be glad to help you and have you help me as well."

"Well, like I said, I don't have any friends in this game either. My name's Ryota. You?"

"Shegio." I reply.

"Real?"

"Um" I didn't want to tell him either way.

"Ha, just kidding, it's not polite to ask people their real names."

"Yeah, but I don't mind," And now I didn't, he seemed cool, I just didn't know why he wanted to know.

"Anyway, you said something about going to the next town?"

"Yeah, there's a town not far from here, but we should go now because every else is most likely going to clear these fields out in no time at all; there will be a few people there as well, but not as many"

"I understand, but aren't they a higher level than us?"

"Yeah, but that means more EXP. and Col. Plus we have each other, we should be able to do it no problem." I understood his concern, but I knew we could do it. Heck, I've been through worse.

"Ok, let's do this-" Then I heard his stomach growl.

"Let's get something to eat first… wait, eating here doesn't help IRL right?"

"Yeah."

"And we can't logout to eat."

"Oh no."

"Yeah this is ba-" And then everything went black.

"...geo" I could hear something. "...igeo!"

"What is that?" I thought to myself.

"SHIGEO!" It was Ryota. "SHIGEO!" I slowly opened my eyes.

"What… happened?" I had no idea.

"Did you just black out?

"Yeah."

"Ok, me too, I just got worried when I woke up first."

"Do you know why we did?"

"No."

"I think I might, remember Kayaba said that the news is covering this?"

"Yeah."

"You think that maybe they moved everyone to hospitals to keep them alive?"

"That is actually really smart. Nice thinking Shigeo."

"I don't know if that is true, but it makes sense."

"Well, thinking about it won't do anything, let's get some food. Even if it doesn't help IRL, we don't need to feel hungry do we?" He had a point.

"Yeah ok."

We decided to get something we could eat on the way to save time, we bought a few loaves of bread and some flasks of water so we didn't have to spend all our Col.

"So how long 'til we reach this village?" Ryota asked.

"At the pace we're going, I'd guess about an hour."

"Oh, hey Shigeo."

"Yeah?"

"How do you know so much about this game?"

"I said I guess, I could be wrong." That was close.

"Well, I hope you're not because it is starting to get dark. Speaking of which, what is happening with the sleep situation?" I hadn't thought of that.

"Oh um, I guess we should just try to sleep and see what happens when the time comes."

"I'm not that fond of that idea."

"I didn't say that I liked it either, but we don't have that much of a choice." I really wasn't looking forward to that either. While we walked we would stop and fight some mobs, but we wouldn't stop for too long because we did want to get to the next village before it got too late.

"There it is!" Ryota pointed at a small light on the horizon with small silhouettes of houses. As we got closer and the buildings started coming into view I knew we made it. "We made it."

"Yeah."

"Hey Shigeo…"

"Yeah, what's up."

"Is time in SAO the same as real life?"

"I think so." I don't know why I'm still putting on this act, I knew it was.

"Um…" He swiped his hand down to open the menu. "No wonder I'm so tired, it's 10:00 already!"

"That's not that late."

"Shut up man, I don't stay up late!"

"Well if you're that tired we should probably find an inn."

"Alright." When we reached the village it didn't take long to find the inn, there were signs pointing to it. The inn wasn't that big, but it was a nice cozy little inn. "You think there are any rooms left?"

"I hope so. Preferably two." I somewhat joked.

"Aaaww, you want a separate room from me?" He said with a fake sad voice and face. When we walked in I looked around.

"This is a nice place hm?"

"Yeah, the inns in this game are nicer than I expected." We walked up to the inn keeper.

"Good evening!" She said. She had shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, and a small slightly curved nose.

"Good evening." Ryota replied with a smile.

"Would you like a room?" She asked.

"Yeah, we'll each pay for our own actually." She lost her smile.

"I'm sorry, there's only one room left." I looked at Ryota.

"I pay half, you pay half?"

"Yeah sure." He turned to her and handed her the money.

"I'll pay you back once we're in the room." I assured him. "I wouldn't not pay someone back after they paid for my room."

"You better." He joked. Our room was on the second floor, the 23rd room. When we found our room and opened the door I could tell Ryota had never seen the inside of an SAO inn. "What are those lights?"

"They're oil lamps."

"Oh." As we looked around the room we saw no bathroom because you didn't have to go to the bathroom in SAO. We also noticed one bed.

"I'll get the couch." I volunteered. "I don't mind it."

"Well, ok, I was going to give you the bed because you've taught me so much about this game."

"No, it's fine… oh I almost forgot." I handed him my half of the pay. "Here you go." I said as he grabbed the Col.

"Thanks."

"No problem." I took a look at the clock, it was 10:30. "Ok, you can go to bed if you want, but I'm going to go explore for a while."

*Yawn* "Ok Shigeo, you go right ahead. I'm going to bed."

"If you wake up after 11:30 and I'm not back, come look for me."

"You got it Shigeo." I showed him how to turn of the lights and I walk out of the room. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just looking around. I walked to the center of town first. I saw someone sitting on the side of a fountain, so I walked over to them.

"Hello?" I didn't know this person, that was for sure.

"Huh?" It was a girl, and she acted surprised that I was talking to her. She turned her head toward me. "Oh, hello." She was wearing a dark cloak that covered her body and from the side I couldn't see her face. She had a soft voice, like she was a little hesitant to talk to me.

"Hi, I was just wondering if you were ok, I didn't expect anyone to be out this late." (Or in this town for that matter.) "Do you need help?"

"Well, I…" Then it was like she almost said something she shouldn't have. "...never mind! I'm fine." She was lying.

"What was that?" I knew she needed help at that point.

"Nothing! I really don't need any help, I'm fine."

"I know that you're lying." I knew she needed help, and I was going to find out why.

*Sigh* "Fine, I don't have any money for food or a place to stay." So that's why she didn't want to tell me.

"And you didn't want anyone to spend money on your behalf?" She nodded. I sat down by her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Well, first I'm going to ask for your name, not your real one. Then I'm going to buy you a meal." I looked at her, it was still too dark to see her face with that hood on.

"You don't have to help me."

"I didn't say I had to, but I want to."

"Why?" That was a good question, why did I want to help her. I didn't know her, I have never seen her before. "Is it because I'm a girl?" She sounded mad.

"Well, it can't be that."

"What?"

"Well, I haven't seen your face, I don't know what you look like. Besides, I would help you even if you weren't."

"You don't mean that." She wasn't convinced.

"And why is that? You think that I would leave someone outside without food, and without shelter just because they weren't a girl?"

"Well, no."

"See, even you don't think so. Now, let's go get something to eat already."

*Sigh* "Ok." We stood up and she was shorter than me, about 5'6"-5'7". We walked in search of a restaurant, and I tried to get her to talk, but to no success. We passed a few people on the street, some shops, and a few inn's.

"Here we go." I pointed to a sign, what it said I have long forgot. We walked into the restaurant and sat down. "Order anything you want." I had plenty of money to pay for two orders of the most expensive thing on the menu. She looked at the floor.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." I said in a kind voice. I opened my menu to check the time, it was 11:00. "I should probably send Ryota a message to tell him I'll be a little late. "_Ryota, something came up, going to be a little late."_ I clicked send and the menu disappeared. An NPC waitress came over to us, she had long blonde hair, green eyes, and a curved nose.

"Good evening!" She sounded very friendly.

"Good evening." I replied. "Go ahead." I said to my friend.

"Um, I'll just have a cheese sandwich."

"Nonsense." I looked at the waitress. "We'll each have beef stew." I looked at my friend. "You like beef stew?"

"Yeah, but."

"And we'll each have water to drink." I said to the waitress. She nodded and I handed her the money.

"Thank you, your food will be out shortly." She walked away.

"Why?" My friend said.

"Why what, oh, why water? I would have gotten something else, but that is all they have." I knew that wasn't what she meant.

"No, why did you order that for me? I would have been fine with a sandwich."

"You know, you say that, but I just do not believe you. I think you just don't want to be a bother."

"Well…"

"Well nothing, you aren't a bother, and I wouldn't lie about that."

"Thank you." I had finally gotten through to her.

"Why don't you take that hood off so you can eat?" I came this far, I just wanted her to trust me, she would have to if I was to help her.

*Sigh* "Ok." She pulled down her hood. I looked at her face for the first time. She had slightly pale skin, raven black hair, deep green eyes, red lips, and a small, slightly angular nose. "Happy?" She didn't sound happy.

"Yeah, I like to see the face of the person I'm eating with." She looked slightly annoyed. "I don't want to sound pushy, so don't answer this if you don't want to." She looked up at me. "Why were you sitting on that fountain by yourself?" She looked away.

"Because… I don't have anyone to help me." That was what I expected.

"Why? You're a nice person and you don't take advantage of people."

"You think so?"

"I wouldn't lie."

"My brother was going to start the game tomorrow; he couldn't get the hard copy, so he was going to download it tomorrow." She looked like she was going to cry, and of course I couldn't have that.

"Hey, think of it like this, at least he's safe."

"Yeah, you're right." She looked happy at last. "Thank you."

"No problem, I'm just happy that you're smiling."

"Emiko."

"Huh?"

"That's my name, Emiko."

"That's a pretty name Emiko."

"I'm not telling you if it's real or not." Ok, so maybe she still didn't completely trust me.

"I wasn't going to ask." We sat in silence for a minute until our food got to us. "Thank yoouu." I said.

"You're very welcome sir." The waitress said. When she walked away I grabbed my spoon and started eating the soup.

"Mm, pretty good huh Emiko?"

"Yes it is, thank you for helping me…"

"Shigeo."

"What?"

"That's my name, Shigeo."

"Thank you, Shigeo." We ate in silence for the remainder of the meal. I briefly considered getting dessert, until I remembered I just spent all my money. When we finished our meal, we left the restaurant. "I guess I should thank you again, for everything."

"It was no problem, really."

"I guess this is goodbye."

"What do you mean by that? We'll see each other tomorrow."

"What?"

"Well, you said that you don't have a place to stay."

"You really don't have too…" This again. I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder in a comforting way.

"Are we really going to go through this again? I already have a room at the inn, you can stay there."

"I can't, I mean I can't even repay you for all you've done already." There's no way that I was going to tell her that I was out of money, she would just as soon sleep on the fountain as she would in the inn.

"Well, I guess that's my problem huh?" I said jokingly as I took my hand off her shoulder. I started walking in the direction of the inn. "Coming?" I said to her.

"Yeah." We walked to the inn in silence, passing small empty blacksmith stands, closed restaurant, and other, smaller inns. "Here we are." I pointed to the sign, which happened to be the most expensive inn I found out after the fact.

"Follow me." I said. I led her up the stairs to the second floor of the inn. (It had three by the way). When we reached my room I told her. "Just so you know, I'm kind of sharing this room already."

"What?!" Yeah, probably should have said that earlier. "Who's in there?!"

"My friend Ryota…"

"No no no no no no. I'm not staying here."

"Oh come on, he's a good guy."

"Do you promise me I won't regret this?"

"I promise."

"Swear to me." She gave me the death stare.

"I swear to you on my life." "_I just want to go to sleep!"_

"Ok." Her expression softened and she stepped aside so I could open the door. I opened the door and stepped inside the room.

"Try to be quiet." I turned and pointed at the bed in the darkened room. "My friend is in that bed."

"Ok."

"Here, you can sleep on the couch."

"But, where will you sleep? There's nothing else here for you." I pointed at the floor. "Oh no, you can have the couch. After all, you've already done so much for me."

"No, it's fine, really. The floor isn't that bad.

"But…"

"Please, just take the couch." I was tired and just wanted to sleep, even if it was on the floor.

"Ok, um thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." I handed her a blanket from the corner of the room and grabbed one for myself. She walked over to the couch, lied down, and covered herself up with the blanket. I lied down on the floor a little away from the couch. "Goodnight Emiko."

"Goodnight, thanks again Shigeo."

"Your welcome." I closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

Thank you for reading Ch. 3 of The Cutting Edge. The next chapter is even better than this one in my opinion, so that is something to look forward to if you are reading this before it's out. I would just like to ask for any reviews/comments about if you think the story is good so far, and any ways that I could make it even better. Thank you for reading, goodbye.


	5. The Next Step

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to ****Sword Art Online belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, ****Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

Ch. 4: The next step

I sat in my living room at my house. My mom and dad were sitting on the other couch and we were eating dinner. A show was playing on the T.V. about people getting stuck in a game. "I'm glad I'm not in there." I said to my parents. My mom turned to look at me.

"What do you mean? Of course you are." The world exploded into white light. I open my eyes slowly, it was just a dream. A dream that I was free, free, not trapped in this game, but all dreams have to end eventually. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and turned to see Ryota walking over to the couch.

"_Crap crap crap." _He lightly touched Emiko's shoulder.

"Hey Shigeo, Shigeo." Emiko slowly sat up and turned to Ryota.

"Morning Shi- AAHH!" She jumped off the couch and pointed at Ryota. "Who are you!?"

"Who are you?!" He looked in my direction and saw me lying on the floor under a blanket.

"Hey." I mused.

"What do you mean _hey_?! Who is this person?!" He yelled

"Shigeo, who is this guy?" Emiko looked at me. I sat up.

"I said I was sharing this room." I gestured at Ryota. "Emiko, meet Ryota." I gestured at Emiko. "Ryota, meet Emiko."

"Why didn't you tell me that you were bringing someone back to the room?"

"I sent a message." I smiled.

"_Something came up _doesn't mean that someone will be sleeping in your spot when I wake up!" I pulled off the blanket and stood up. I stretch and yawn. I walk over and put my hand on Emiko's shoulder.

"This is Emiko, I met her last night. She needed help, I gave it to her." I took my hand off her shoulder.

"So what now, is she becoming part of our group now?" I turned to her and looked her in the eye.

"One question first, do you know how to fight?" Her eyes looked at the ground.

"No, my brother was going to teach me… but-"

"There's your answer. She doesn't know how to fight, so we have something to do on the way to the next town."

"But, shouldn't I learn on weaker monsters?" I leaned down to pick up the blanket.

"Why? If you learn on tougher monsters, then the weaker ones will be weaker, not the other way around." I walked over to the corner of the room and set the blanket in the basket. I turned to look at Ryota and Emiko. "Who's hungry?" They each rose their hands.

Ryota had no problem paying for the food since I had no more money, we just had to eat cheap with there being three of us. We found a little shack that sold small loaves of bread and butter. I decided to show Emiko how to fight in the nearby woods since there were a variety of mobs in that area.

"I guess we don't have to wait to get to the woods." I said. There was a boar in front of us eating grass. "This should serve our purposes." I said. I turned to Emiko. She was back in her chestplate and cloak, which I was guessing someone gave her. "Watch and listen." I said to Emiko. I stepped forward and drew my sword. The boar looked in my direction and turned to face me. "First off, don't let it hit you." The boar ran at top speed toward me, but right as it was getting close I jumped to the right and it ran past me. "Or if you can't move you can block with your sword." It rammed again, this time however, I put my sword across my body and put my hand behind the blade. The boar rammed into it and stopped before I kicked it away. "Never block with the sharp part unless you have to, it'll dull the blade. Ok, now to attack. You have to use sword skills to do any real damage, if you don't it'll still do damage, just not as much." To demonstrate this, I jumped to the side as the boar got close and swung my sword. The boar's health went down, but not as much as a sword skill would have made it. "See?" The boar turned around and this time I side-stepped and used a swinging sword skill to finish it. The boar swelled and exploded into crystal-like shards. "And that is what happens when you use a sword skill."

"That was amazing Shigeo!" Emiko exclaimed. "I haven't seen anyone fight yet!"

"It's really quite simple. Ready to try?" I asked. She nodded and smiled. "Ryota…" He turned to look at me.

"Yeah?"

"Go on ahead and get some Col and Xp if you want, I'm going to teach Emiko some more things."

"Yeah, ok."

"When you're ready to meet back up, just send me a message, or I'll message you when we're done. Ok?" He smiled and nodded. "We'll meet back here when we're ready, good luck."

"Yeah, you to Shigeo." He turned and walked to a group of boars as he drew his sword. I turned back to Emiko. "Ready for your turn?" She smiled and nodded. We walked until we found a boar walking down a hill. "Ok, now Emiko, I want to form a party with me."

"Huh?"

"If something happens, I can switch out with you and it'll go after me instead. Ok?"

"Yeah, ok." I swiped my hand and opened the party menu. I clicked invite to party and selected Emiko's name. It will only do it if they are close enough to you." The menu popped up in front of her and she clicked accept. "Ok, now remember everything I showed you."

"Yeah."

"Ok, walk over to it, and when it runs I want you to wait until it is about to hit you, then jump out of the way." She drew her sword from her hip and started to walk over to the boar. The boar noticed her and its eyes turned red right before it ran at her. She was a natural, right before it hit her she jumped to the right and it missed. "Now block it!" It rammed her and she blocked, but she was smaller than me and got pushed back. To my horror, she fell and the boar backed up and ran again. She didn't have time to move out of the way. I ran to get between her and the boar. I got between them and blocked the boar and shoved it to the side and helped Emiko up. "You ok?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Get him Emiko." This time the boar charged, she didn't move, but she used a thrusting sword skill and skewered the boar. It exploded and the drop menu popped up. "I did it Shigeo!"

"You sure did Emiko." I held up my hand and she high-fived me. We went into the forest to find some stronger mobs, we were in there for about 30 mins. When we were done, I approached her. "So we now know that you are better off dodging and countering rather than blocking and going on the defensive." She sheathed her sword.

"What about you? You're big enough to block and go head on, but you're also fast enough to dodge and counter. What do you do?."She asked. I smiled

"Both."

"Excuse me?"

"I like to block, but in a way as to keep my opponent moving. Inevitably, I try to use my opponent's momentum and weight against them." I explained. "I think that might work for you as well." That way, she didn't need much strength to fight like that.

"You think so?" At least she seemed interested.

"Yeah, and I could teach you." She smiled.

"Really?! That would be great!" She grabbed my hand with both of hers. "Would you really do that?!" I smiled.

"Of course I would." She smiled bigger.

"I might be able to pay you back for this now that I think of it." This was new. I took my hand and gave a smirk.

"Oh yeah, and how do you figure?" She pointed at herself.

"I actually know a lot about cooking, I plan to work on it in the future." If her brother knew how to cook in the game he could have told her how before she got here. "I can show you how to cook basic food items." That sounded really good, I like good food, and if I can make it myself I could have it anytime. "What do you say?" I looked up at the sky.

"Yeah, ok. That'll work." I looked back down and she was smiling.

"Is there anything else I should know about fighting?"

"Yeah, you need to know how to fight something or someone with arms." I drew my sword. "I'll be your sparring partner." She lost her smile.

"What!? You're so much better than me that I would lose! Even if you went easy on me and I somehow won, you would lose HP!" I smiled.

"We won't be hitting each other, just doing the motions." She relaxed and smiled.

"You've thought this through."

"Not really, I teach people how to protect themselves in the real world. I don't teach them real fancy things some people do, I teach them real things that can get them out of real situations." I bowed. "Shigeo, certified self-defence instructor, at your service." I straightened my back and looked at her, only to see her laughing.

"I should have guessed! Ha ha, no normal person knows this much about fighting! Ha ha ha!" I frowned.

"Not true." I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Anyone can learn this stuff, I've just been doing this for 15 years. My dad was a professional fighter, he has taught me since I was born. He even won championships. We used to box each other." I put my hand down and turned my back to her. "He used to stand on his knees so we were the same height, until I got to tall for that. I don't know how many times my mom would come into the room and see us both with bloody noses." I laughed. "He's the only reason I stand a chance in this world, I owe it to him and my mom to get out of here alive." I noticed that my eyes were watering and wiped them. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You will, there's no chance of you dying here, you're way too good at fighting." I smiled and turned.

"I don't know about that, but I know that I won't let myself die in here. Thank you, Emiko." She smiled and nodded. "Anyway, we better get back to business."

"Yeah!" I stepped back and looked at her. "We'll start with some basic techniques." She nodded and drew her sword. "The first thing is how to dodge attacks. I am going to come at you and I want you to sidestep and pretend to stab my side, ok? She nodded. I stepped forward and slowly swung my sword down at her head. She sidestepped fast and lightly put the tip of her sword against the side of my ribs, in between the front and back pieces of my armor. I stepped back. "See, your a natural, but an opponent won't go slow like I just did, so this time I'm going to go faster." She nodded. I stepped back and she held up her sword. I stepped forward and as fast as I could brought the sword down, but I had to stop it mid-swing because I would of hit her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just wasn't expecting you to be so fast, I couldn't move fast enough."

"It's not that you can't, you just need practice." She nodded. We did this a few times until she got it, and I taught her how to counter diagonal swings, stabs, horizontal swings, and a few other, more advanced moves. We were both out of breath by the time we were done. We sat down. "Your…" *Pant* "... really good Em." She looked at me.

*Pant* "What did you just call me?" She looked a little angry.

"Em…" *Pant* " I thought it sounded cute, and that you could use a nickname." Her expression softened, but looked sad. "Is something wrong?" She shook her head and smiled.

"No, it's fine, I like it." I smiled. "Can we take a break to eat?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too." We swiped our hands to open our menus and got our lunches. "Bread and water…" I opened the bag with the food. "Maybe I should have saved some money." Em looked at me.

"What?" I shook my head.

"Nothing, I'm just glad I could get something to eat, even if it is just a snack." She left it alone. We ate in silence, until I got a message from Ryota.

"_Shigeo, ready to meet back up?" _I clicked reply.

"_Yeah, Emiko and I just finished up here, see you soon." _I finished my water quick and turned to Em. "Ready to meet back up with Ryota?" She nodded. On the way back to the clearing we would stop and fight if we had too, but we got quite a bit of Col that day, so we didn't feel the need to spend time to get more. When we were almost back to where Ryota was, we noticed a boar eating grass, but this one was different. It was bigger and a different color, it was a rare monster.

"What is that thing Shigeo?" Em asked me.

"It's a rare spawn, it gives a rare item if it's killed, but it's a lot stronger than the other monsters here."

"How much stronger?"

"I'd say about two or three levels higher, it would be a challenge for either one of us."

"Why, wouldn't it just take longer to beat?" I shook my head.

"No, rare monsters have higher attack, speed and defence stats. Not to mention the fact they have different attack patterns." She looked concerned.

"Should we try to attack it, or sneak past?" I briefly considered our levels, equipment, and overall skill. I would have taken it on in a heartbeat if I were alone, but with Em here? "What do you think?"

"I think you should do it if you think you can do it, consider it another way for me to pay you back." Alright then.

"Ok, if you say so. This shouldn't take long." She gave me a weird look. "Let's do this." I walked forward, drawing my sword. The boar turned around, and I recognized it as an "Elder boar". The boar's eyes turned a bright crimson color. "En garde." The boar ran at me and, as usual, I sidestepped, but this time the boar swung its head in the direction that I moved. When it did this, its head clipped my side and I got pushed back.

"Are you ok Shigeo?!" I smiled.

"Yeah, but it's faster and more skilled than I thought." I got into a different stance, this time I stood with both of my legs slightly bent and at 90 degree angles to each other. The boar ran at me again, this time however, when it got close enough I jumped over it and used a swinging sword skill to hit it across the back. To my surprise however, when I did so it let out a squeal and ran at Emiko. "Watch out!" I yelled. It wasn't necessary though. When the boar got close to her she jumped back and to the left, causing the boar to run head-first into a tree that was behind her. "Never mind, nice job."

"It's not over yet Shigeo!" As she said this the boar turned and ran at me. Its health was about a fourth of the way down, it was time to finish this. When the boar was close enough, I made my sword glow a neon red and jumped over the boar, cutting it's back. When I hit the ground this time, I ran over to it and swiped my sword across it's back. The boar swung its head at my knee, but I jumped back and swung my sword at it's head. When it recoiled from the blow, I jumped forward, past its head. As I did this, I swung my sword perpendicular to the ground, decapitating the boar. As its head detached it swelled and exploded into the same, familiar, rainbow colored shards. "That was amazing shigeo! I've never seen anything like that before!" I turned my head to look at her.

"Before today you've never seen anyone fight before." She frowned. I looked back and saw the menu. Exp, Col, and 1 item. I swiped my hand and went to my item storage. I noticed an Item was in my weapon storage that wasn't there before. "_Engraved Slicer"_. I unequipped my sword and equipped the Engraved Slicer. I felt the weight of the sword pull on my back. I reached back and took the sword off of my back. From what I could tell it was a standard straight sword, it had a hand and a half handle, and a simple pommel. The sheath wasn't anything special, just a simple sheath. I grabbed the handle and drew the sword. The blade was nothing special, except for the runes engraved into the blade. "I can't read this, can you?" I turned to Em, who tried to read it.

"No, is it even human letters?" I looked again.

"Maybe it's a language made just for SAO?" She shrugged. "Well anyway, lets get back to Ryota." Em nodded. We walked without anymore interruptions. When we got out of the clearing I saw Ryota standing there waiting. "Hey Ryota!" He waved. We walked up to him.

"How'd it go you two?" He asked.

"Em got a lot of practice, she's become quite the swordswoman." He gestured to my back.

"Seems like you had some luck."

"Yeah, rare monster." I reached back and drew the sword, handing it to him. "It's got some weird engravings on it, can you read them?" He looked at them.

"No, I can't." He handed me the sword, which I sheathed.

"Oh, maybe it really is a made up SAO language." He shrugged.

"Let's go back and get some food." I said.

That night we went and had a nice dinner, Em taught me how to cook, and we cooked the boar meat we got that day. After we ate I told Em and Ryota they can go to bed if they wanted, I was going to go buy some armor. I found the blacksmith after a few minutes.

"Good evening!" He said.

"Good evening." I replied.

"What can I get you?" I looked at the armor he had.

"Do you have any chestplates like this…" I pointed at my armor. "...but metal?" He looked for a second.

"Yeah, one second." He went behind a curtain and came out with a metal chestplate.

"Can I inspect it first please?"

"That'd be just fine." He said. I poked it and the stat menu came up, it was so much better than what I was using. "Is it satisfactory sir?"

"Yes, it is a nice piece." I replied.

"Then that'll be 200 Col please." A trade window opened up and I entered 200 Col and he offered the chestplate. We hit accept. The armor disappeared into my inventory. And he got the Col. "Thank you sir, have a nice night."

"Thank you, you too." I turned around, equiped the armor, and started walking to the inn. I walked in the door, but saw Em walking toward me. "Hey, Em." She looked up, then away. "What's wrong?" I walked over to her.

"I'm leaving." She said.

"What?!"

"I'm leaving!" I couldn't believe my ears.

"But, why."

"I couldn't deal with it if you or Ryota died, and I don't want you to feel that if I do."

"I understand, I don't like it, but I understand." I could feel myself tearing up.

"I'm sorry, I taught you how to cook, but there's no way I'll ever be able to pay you back for everything you've done." I grabbed her shoulders.

"Yes there is…" She looked up at me, her eyes were watery. "...survive, put what I taught you to use." She started crying then.

"I will, I promise." I let go of her. "Goodbye, Shigo." She walked out the door. I whispered.

"Goodbye, Emiko."

**Wew, that ending though. Thank you so much for reading Ch. 4 of The Cutting Edge. I would just like to ask for any feedback on if you like the story and what I can do to make it better; afterall, I'm writing this for you guys. Thank you for reading.**

**P.S. The picture of Shigeo is here! The cover picture can be viewed by clicking the picture on the top-left of the screen when reading the story. I did not draw this, Ian, who I found on reddit, did. Please show your support for him and me by favoriting, following, and reviewing. Thank you for your time.**


	6. Progress

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to ****Funimation, A-1 Pictures, ****Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

Ch. 5: Progress

"Get it Shigeo!" Ryota yelled as I sidestepped to avoid the bear's claws, then I swing my sword across twice. The bear swings it's paw at my head, but I duck and come back up with a thrust type sword skill, causing the bear to stagger back.

"Switch!" I yell to Ryota. I jump back as the bear swings his arm, and Ryota jumped in, blocked the bear's arm, and finished it with a 3-hit combo sword skill. "Nice one!" I tell him. The drop menu appears in front of both of us because Col and Exp. are shared equally between party members, but items go to the person who dealt the final blow. "Let's keep going" I said.

It's been a month since the game started, one month since my life was put on the line. Ryota and I have been raising our levels every day since everything started, now we're level 12, but how high we get our levels won't even matter if nobody can find the boss room. Even though it's been a month since we got imprisoned in this game, nobody's been able to find the boss room, and of course we need to find it before we can get to the next floor. We decided to stop for a minute for lunch when another player ran over to us.

"Hello, I've been instructed to deliver a message to any players I run into." He was short, and he looked like he was about twelve years old, he had brown hair and brown eyes, and he didn't look like he had that much experience in battle.

"What is it?" Ryota asked him.

"There's going to be a meeting tomorrow at noon in the north side of The Town Of Beginnings about the boss room!" Ryota and I looked at each other then back at him.

"Does that mean that they've found the boss room?!" I asked him.

"I don't know, I was just told to tell anyone I saw, sorry." I held my hand up.

"No it's fine, I'm just glad that someone has something to say." He nodded.

"Well, I better get going, nice to meet you."

"Yeah you too." Ryota replied. As he started to walk away Ryota turned to me. "This is great! Isn't it Shigeo?!" I turned my head away from him to the figure walking away from us.

"He didn't say if it was good news." I replied as I turned back to Ryota. He looked at me.

"Even bad news is better than no news at all." He said to me. I shrugged as I bent down to pick up my lunch.

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow." I sat down with my lunch and started eating.

The next day, we woke up at an inn in the Town Of Beginnings. Ryota and I had stayed there for the night because the walk from the other inn to the Town Of Beginnings takes about an hour. Ryota and I got out of bed and started left the inn to go to the meeting. We were walking in silence and about half-way to the meeting we had a kid run up to us. He was maybe 12 years old, 5' 6", blonde, and had a dagger on his hip. He looked scared. "Please help me!" He franticly said when he got to us.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"My friend and I were doing a quest, but then we got trapped in a cave with some strong mobs, we found a safe room and he told me to go get some help, he's still there!" My eyes widened and I looked at Ryota.

"I'll go help his friend, you go to that meeting." Ryota nodded.

"I'll meet you back at the inn later." I nodded and turned to the kid.

"Let's go."

He showed me the way to the cave where him and his friend got separated. It was a part of a quest that Ryota and I haven't done yet. It involves you going into a cave with a bunch of strong mobs in it to retrieve a sword and return it to a blacksmith, in return, he raises your blacksmith skill. Ryota and I were going to do this so I could be the group blacksmith, but the meeting interfered with that. To repay me for helping him, Hayato, the kid that needed help, invited me to his party so I could get the reward for the mission. We found the cave, and I told him that if I was to help him, he would need to stay back and let me handle the mobs. We entered the cave, and the first thing I saw was two brown bears sleeping. "We need to be very quiet." I whispered to Hayato. He nodded. We slowly walked to the back of the cave, trying to sneak past the bears. We were almost there when Hayato's foot hit a rock and sent it into a wall, waking the bears. "Or not." I said as I drew my sword.

"I'm sorry!" Hayato said.

"Whatever, it's just going to take a little longer to get to your friend." I stepped toward the bears. "En garde." The bears' eyes turned red and they stepped toward me, swinging their paws in diagonal directions, making an "X" shaped pattern. I dived under their paws and sprung up behind them, hitting them both in the back. They separated and swung at me from both sides, but I ducked beneath their paws, causing them to hit each other instead of me. I could tell that I did not want them to hit me at all, they could end me in just a few hits. I jumped back, away from the bears. They both turned to me, bringing their paws down at my head. I jumped to the side and swung a glowing crimson blade at one of the bear's paw. My blade sunk into the bear's left paw, severing it. An icon appeared by the bear's health bar indicating that it had lost a limb and is now taking damage over time. With that I turned my attention to the other bear, as this one wouldn't be fighting for another fifteen seconds. Bear number two got down on all fours and charged at me with it's mouth open, trying to grab me with its razor sharp teeth. When it was close to me it rose up and then brought its mouth down toward my head. I slid underneath it and when I came up I stabbed its back with a glowing blue blade, knocking it forward and bringing its health down into the yellow zone. This was taking too long so I decided to go on the offencive. When the Post-Motion Delay, the system locking your body for a short time after a sword skill, wore off my sword glew a bright blue as I swung it right-to-left, then left-to-right, and finished the three hit combo by jumping back with a stab to the back of the bear. When I was out of range of bear number two, I looked over to see the one-handed bear number one running at me with as much speed as it could muster. The depleting health bar of bear number one due to the missing hand was now in the red zone. I decided to finish bear one right there. I knew that it would try to bite me as to not put its other paw in danger, so I got ready to jump. When it got close I jumped to the side, and as I came down I impaled the bear's side, causing it to explode into rainbow-colored shards. I heard a noise, so I turned to investigate. All I could see was a blur of brown before I felt a crushing pressure on my face, then weightlessness as I got thrown across the cave. In SAO, you aren't supposed to feel pain other than a slight tingling sensation due to the restrictions of the game, but the human brain won't be so easily tricked. My face had a ache to it from the bear, and my back ached from hitting the wall. I looked at my health bar, 66% left. That one hit took away a third of my health.

"Shigeo, are you ok?!" Hayato yelled.

"Yeah, but that hurt." I replied. I looked at the now charging bear. I jumped out of the way, causing it to crash into the wall. Its health was now in the red zone. It turned to me and got up on its back legs, swinging both of its hands in a combo. Left-right-left and down-right and down. I dodged the first half, then jumped back. When it stopped attacking, I jumped forward with a glowing blue blade, stabbing it through the throat. It swelled and exploded into polygons. The drop menu popped up as Hayato walked over to me with a healing crystal in his hand. I held my hand up. "You don't need to." I said. I dig through by quick access pouch, pulling out a red healing potion. I drank the stale, viscous liquid, watching my health slowly rise. "Let's go."

We got through the rest of the cave without much interference. We rounded a corner which led to a fork in the path. "The one on the right." Hayato told me. We went that way, and in only a minute or so we got to another fork. This time however, I saw one lead to an unknown place, and the other in a room with a big rock and a player in the middle. "Mitsuru!" Hayato yelled at the player. Mitsuru turned and looked at us. He smiled and ran over to us.

"Hayato! You got help!" He looked at me. "You got one person." It wasn't a question.

"Hello, my name is Shigeo, nice to meet you Mitsuru." I held my hand out and he shook it.

"Hi, you and Hayato made it through the cave by yourselves?"

"By himself." Hayato said.

"He told me where to go." I said. Mitsuru gave me a "_How did you do that" _look.

"Oh." Mitsuru said. He opened his menu and summoned a simple sword. "I found it Hayato!"

"Is that?" I asked Mitsuru nodded.

We got out of the cave and turned in the quest without any problems. I was sitting in a restaurant waiting for my food when Ryota walked in. He sat down in front of me. "Hey Shigeo." He said, he sounded excited.

"What?" I asked him.

"They found it!"

"What'd they find?!" He leaned closer to me.

"The boss room!" I leaned back.

"When?!"

"Two days ago! The meeting was about how they found the boss room and they were assembling a team to fight it!" He replied.

"When is it going down?!" I asked him. He pulled up a menu and showed me a message.

"_Thursday, 12:00PM. Meet at the meeting site." _I waved the message away.

"The bosses name is "Illfang The Kobold Lord". He uses an axe and buckler, until he hits the red zone, then he switches to a Talwar, whatever that is. He also has minion mobs helping him. We split into teams and each team has a different job in the fight."

"What did you sign us up for?" I asked him.

"Most people wanted to fight the boss, so I signed us up for the support team, they didn't have enough people; I thought we could help them out." I nodded.

"Good thinking." I told him. The boss wouldn't have been that hard with people who know what they're doing, but chances were that most of the people fighting the boss just want the "_Last Attack Bonus"_. The last attack bonus is where you get a guaranteed rare item if you get the final hit on a boss, killing it. If that was the case, this boss fight would be difficult. "How many people are there?" I asked him.

"Enough, the guy who organized the whole thing seemed like he knew what he was doing."

"What was his name?"

"Diabel, why?"

"Just curious. So, tomorrow at noon huh?"

"Yeah, I guess the boss isn't far from here. There's also going to be a third guy in our party."

"What's his name and what does he use?"

"Noburo, a spear user." At least we would have some variety in our group. "He uses medium armor and a rare spear. He could be very useful."

"Yeah, he could." I wondered what the future was going to bring with this whole thing.

"Who knows, he might become a permanent member of our group."

"Maybe." I replied as the food came.

The next day, I met Noburo for the first time. He was a little shorter than me, about the same as Ryota. He had short red hair, and light green eyes. He had a body-length green spear. He was wearing the metal first-floor chestplate, and under that it was red clothing the same color as his hair. "Hello, my name's Noburo." He held his hand out. I took it and gave it a shake.

"Hi, I'm Shigeo."

"Attention everybody!" I heard Diabel yell. I turned to look at him, as did the rest of the raid party. "Thank you all for coming. I am glad to welcome everybody to the first boss raid of many!" Everybody clapped and cheered. "My group and I know where the boss is so would everybody please follow us!" People yelled and banged shields, ready to fight the first boss of many. We walked for a good thirty minutes before we saw a giant tower, hidden in the back of a maze of a forest. We had to climb stairs before we could get to the fight, so that took about ten minutes. "There it is people!" I heard Diabel shout. I looked up and saw a humungous blue-grey iron door. "This is the boss room containing Illfang! When we open this door, I want everyone to remember their jobs! We have no room for error! Is everybody ready!?" There was a roar of shouting voices and clanging shields. Diabel turned and pushed the door open. The open door revealed an empty room. We walked in. Once we did, a giant red demon fell from the ceiling. He stood four times the size of a human, and he held an axe and a buckler. Four health bars appeared by his head, as well as a name.

"**Illfang, The Kobold Lord."**

**Thank you for reading Ch. 5 of The Cutting Edge. A review or a favorite would be much appreciated. It is such an honor that people keep coming back for more of this story. I am sorry for not getting this up on time, but I was gone and could not get access to this website in order to upload. Thank you for understanding and reading.**


	7. The Kobold Lord

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, ****Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

**Shigeo's level: 14**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 14**

**Noburo-Level 13**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Engraved Slicer+7(Main weapon)**

**Iron Dagger(Emergency weapon)**

**Metal Chestplate+5**

**Cloth Shirt**

**Cloth Pants**

**Black Leather Gloves**

**Leather Fighting Boots**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 75(always equipped)**

**Light Metal Equipment-75(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-65(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-40(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(will be equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-50(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

Ch. 6: The Kobold Lord

I blocked the mace of the sentinel before retaliating with a stab from a crimson blade. Group A was busy fighting Illfang head-on. Ryota and I would take turns attacking and defending, but Noburo was always attacking from out of range. I would knock a "**Kobold Sentinel" **off-balance and see a bright purple spear come in and knock the sentinel of of its feet. "Switch!" I yelled to Ryota. I stabbed the sentinel as I jumped back and Ryota jumped in, delivering a crushing blow with his two-handed greatsword. I dug in my quick-access pouch, pulling out a healing potion. As I drank the viscous liquid I took a look at the group fighting Illfang. They were attacking him with all they had, dealing amazing damage. I then looked at the group fighting the sentinels. I saw all of them fighting bravely and skillfully, especially a group of two, consisting of a boy fighting with an "_Anneal Blade"_, and a girl wearing a cloak wielding a "_rapier"_. They fought with skill I've only seen in a few people, including myself.

"Switch!" I heard Ryota yell. I turned to see him deliver a devastating upward blow against the sentinel at the same time that Noburo hit it into the air. I jumped up at the sentinel as my sword glew yellow and I hit it in the stomach with a downward, two-handed swing, propelling it into the ground. It hit the ground and immediately exploded into glowing multi-colored shards. I waved away the drop window, this was no time to sort through the spoils of battle. As soon as the sentinel disappeared, three more took its place.

"Noburo, can you handle it by yourself?!" He nodded. I turned my attention to the sentinel in front of me. I wasn't going to waste time with this one. It swung its mace at my head, but I sidestepped and brought a glowing pink blade up into its right hand. I didn't cut its hand off however, my sword got stuck in its wrist. I desperately tried to pry my sword from its wrist, but before I could I was met with a mace to my head. I was sent backward onto my back, but the blow unwedged my sword from the sentinel. I looked at my health bar, 88%. Ryota noticed my problem.

"Shigeo, you good?!" He yelled.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I replied. The sentinel brought its mace up to bring down on my downed figure, but before it hit me I jumped out of the way. This time it was the sentinel's turn to get hit. I took the opening to rush in with a glowing blue blade, swinging right-to-left, left-to-right, and finished by jumping back and stabbing it in the back. The sentinel swelled and exploded into polygons. I turned to see Ryota and Noburo finishing off their sentinels as well. I took the lull in action to check on the A group fighting the boss. They looked like they still had all of their members, so that meant that nobody had died. As I turned to look back at my team, Illfang decided to jump over to the team fighting the sentinels. He jumped into the air and almost landed on me and Norburo, but I dove and knocked Noburo and myself out of the way. I looked up at Illfang as he swung his axe at Noburo and me. I pushed Norburo out of the way and held my sword up to block Illfang's attack. It is still surprising how my sword didn't break from the force. When Illfang's axe hit me, I went flying backward, hitting Ryota. We both slammed into the wall and fell down. As I layed there I looked at my health bar, 12%. I turned my head to look at Ryota, he had 64% left. He stood up.

"Shigeo!" He ran over to me and helped me up. "You're good!" He said. He handed me a health crystal. I took it and refilled my health, he did the same. I saw Noburo desperately trying to avoid Illfang's attacks, but he was a spear user. He got hit and went flying back.

"Take care of him!" I yelled while pointing at Noburo.

"Ok!" Ryota ran over to him with a healing crystal in his hand. I turned to Illfang and saw him attacking the former support group. I did a quick check on my weapon's durability, it would have to do. I ran over to help the panicking support group. As Illfang was bringing his axe down in a vertical swing. I tackled the guy standing there, getting him out of the way. When I stood up I noticed that Illfang was vulnerable. I ran over to Illfang with a glowing green blade. When I reached him I let loose everything I had. I brought my green blade down his side, then left-to-right on his side. Because it was a basic move, the "_Post-Motion Delay" _wasn't that long, and I would keep it that way. As I was joined by other players, I stabbed him with a glowing blue blade. Then with a pink blade, I brought the sword up his side in a slashing motion. Illfang attempted to swing his axe at me, but I dropped into a crab-walk to dodge it. I stood back up and with a blue blade I did the "Evade stab". Right-to-left, left-to-right, and finished with a stab while jumping backward. I slid backward and ended up by Ryota and Noburo.

"Get ready guys." I told them. We watched as Illfang's health dropped into the red zone. He let out an ear-splitting roar and threw his axe and buckler to the sides and pulled out a long, sword like weapon with a slit cut out of the end. "_That isn't a Talwar!" _I thought to myself. I heard Diabel yell something then run out in front of everybody. His sword started glowing green as he ran at Illfang, but Illfang started jumping off of the walls. Diabel didn't stand a chance, as Illfang came back down, he swung his weapon at Diabel. Diabel got hit dead center in the chest and went flying backward. Diabel got hidden from me by the rest of the crowd, but I knew we had to distract Illfang. As we ran at Illfang, I saw the guy with the Anneal Blade offering Diabel a health crystal, but he pushed it away. As Diabel exploded into polygons, I saw the guy get up and with the girl wearing the cloak, ran at Illfang. The rest of the group was away from Illfang by then. I saw the boy and girl switching out and back in, taking turns at Illfang. I saw as Illfang swung at the girl, destroying her cloak, but not dealing damage to her. She stabbed Illfang multiple times, stunning him. Then the boy ran up and did a crazy combo, ending by damn near cutting Illfang in half. As he disappeared, "Congratulations!" appeared above our heads. The room exploded into cheers. Ryota, Noburo, and myself all celebrated and complemented each other on the battle.

"BE QUIET!" I heard someone yell. Everyone stopped talking and looked over to the guy who yelled. He was at least in his twenties, and had spiked brown hair.

"That guy was at the meeting." Ryota said.

"Why'd you do it, why'd you let Diabel die!?" He asked the boy who killed Illfang. "You knew the bosses attack patterns, yet you let him die!" Everyone started whispering to each other.

"I know, he must have been a beta tester! And I bet there are more of them in here!" Someone yelled. I froze.

There were 1000 of us, people who were chosen to test the game before it came out. Ever since this game turned into more than that, beta testers have been on the proverbial black list. I snapped back to reality to hear my fellow beta tester laughing.

"So, you think I'm a beta tester?" He got up and started walking toward us. "As if, I'm nothing like those noobs." What was he talking about. As he got closer, everyone kind of just made a path for him. "Most of them were so green, they couldn't even open their menus. It's true I was a beta tester, but I am nothing like the others. I made it to much higher floors than any of the others, and fought bosses with way more sword skills. I know things about this game, more than any info broker. "

"Then you're worse then a beta tester, your a f***ing cheater.!" Everybody started talking.

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a "Beater"!" I heard someone yell.

"Yeah, a "Beater", I like it." The guy said as he opened a menu. "As long as you don't confuse me with those beta tester anymore." He clicked something, and a black leather trench coat with metal studs on the shoulders appeared on him. He started walking away, going to the stairs to open the second floor. The girl he was with went after him. I turned and slipped out of the crowd, back out of the boss room and sat down to the side of the boss door. I just sat there and thought about what he just did. He just tried to take the hate off of beta testers, but now people will be suspicious of people who are really good. They'll think that they're "Beaters". I sat there for a moment, thinking about what would happen if Ryota and Noburo found out about me. I could hear people talking and yelling about the beta testers inside, and I briefly considered leaving and not looking back. I decided against it and waited for the guys to find me. I sat for a full five minutes before Ryota came out of the room.

"Noburo, he's out here!" Ryota yelled into the room. He came over and sat down by me. "Dude, why'd you come out here?" I looked at the ground.

"I'll tell you when Noburo gets here." We waited for a moment before he got to us.

"What's wrong Shigeo?" He asked.

"Ok, I'll tell you."

**Thank you so much for reading Ch. 6 of The Cutting Edge. Sorry for the short chapter, but I couldn't make it any longer without dragging it out and making it boring, and I thought this was a good stopping point, I promise the next chapter will be much longer. Please review, and or favorite. Thank you.**

**P.S. I will be putting Shigeo's skills, equipment, level, and friends list at the top of every chapter, thank you.**


	8. The Ruby Palace Raiders

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 14**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 14**

**Noburo-Level 13**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Engraved Slicer+7(Main weapon)**

**Iron Dagger(Emergency weapon)**

**Metal Chestplate+5**

**Cloth Shirt**

**Cloth Pants**

**Black Leather Gloves**

**Leather Fighting Boots**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 76(always equipped)**

**Light Metal Equipment-76(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-65(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-40(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(will be equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

Ch. 7: The Ruby Palace Raiders

"What's wrong Shigeo?" Noburo asked me.

"Ok, I'll tell you." They looked at me. "Back in there, was what I was afraid of."

"What do you mean?" Ryota asked.

"I mean the hatred toward the beta testers."

"Why would you care about that?" Noburo asked me.

"Because he is one." Ryota told him.

"How'd you know that?" I asked him in surprise.

"Come on Shigeo! It's pretty obvious, how else would you know all that stuff without having to learn it first." He replied.

"Well, you're right. Now that you guys know that, what are you going to do?" They looked at each other.

"Nothing." Noburo replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. He held his hand out. I took it and stood up.

"I mean you're still the same person, we just know something new." He told me as Ryota stood up.

"Yeah, you're still our friend." Ryota said to me.

"Thanks guys." They nodded.

"Now, should we go to the second floor?" Ryota asked. Noburo and I nodded. We walked back into an empty boss room. "They must have already gone ahead." As we walked across the room, we sorted through our item storage to see what we gathered from the battle. I gave Ryota some plate armor and a two handed sword, and I gave Noburo some light padded chain mail and a spear. They gave me some black leather armor, a new sword, and a new dagger. We climbed the stairs to the second floor, and it was different than the first. The terrain was rocky with flat-topped mountains, as opposed to the first floor's woods and fields. It was quite a bit warmer here as well.

"Bring back any memories Shigeo?" Noburo joked.

"Actually, yes." That was the floor that I first died on in the beta, but that was one thing they would never find out.

"So, what now guys?" Ryota asked. Noburo and I shrugged.

"I guess that we should try and find the boss room on this floor." Noburo said. "But first, we should take a break and have fun for the rest of the day, we did just get past the first floor. We should celebrate!"

"Yeah, we just survived our first boss fight, we should be excited!" Ryota said. "But, maybe we should find an inn before we do anything, unless you want to camp again."

"No, we should find an inn, at least until we learn more about this floor and the dangers it has in store, because I've noticed some changes since the beta." I replied.

"What do you mean "changes"?" Noburo asked me.

"Back in that boss fight, when Illfang switched to his second weapon, that wasn't a talwar." They looked at each other then at me. "In the beta, he had a different weapon, it was a little shorter, and didn't do as much damage. He couldn't one-shot a player like that." I explained to them.

"But, that doesn't mean that every boss will be different, does it?" Noburo asked.

"I hope not, but even if it does, it won't matter after the tenth floor. That's as far as the beta testers got." They looked at each other.

"Well, then that isn't so bad!" Ryota said. "So Mr. Tester, where is the closest town?" I looked around.

"It should be about a ten minute walk that way." I pointed to the "_North"_. "If it didn't change from the beta that is, and we shouldn't have any trouble getting there."

"Good, because I'm out of healing items." Noburo said.

"Yeah, me too." Ryota replied.

"Let's get going." I said. We walked to the north, planning to find an inn to have a relaxing night of celebration. We saw a couple people getting ready to camp out for the night on the way there, but it was relatively uneventful. We found the town at the base of a large mountain, and we saw that there were not many buildings. "It wasn't this small in the beta." I said to the guys. "We may have problems as far as lodging goes."

"Yeah, there might not be any rooms left at this point." Noburo said. "Well, one way to find out." We walked through the main street in the town until we found a building with a sign that said "_Inn"_ on it. We walked in and asked the innkeeper, an older man with short, greying hair, and greyish-brown eyes, if there were any rooms left.

"No, I'm sorry, there isn't. They were taken as soon as we noticed people had gotten to this little town." He replied apologetically.

"Ok then, thanks anyways." I replied.

"I'm sorry guys, but try to have a nice day." He told us.

"We will, have a good day mister." Ryota replied. We left the Inn, and I tried to raise their spirits.

"Well, we're camping tonight, but at least you get to have something I cooked!" They fake gagged.

"Or, maybe we should go to a restaurant." Ryota said.

"My cooking isn't that bad!" I said.

"It won't be, when you level it up more." Noburo said.

"Hey! It's better than yours!" I told them. We went to find a place that sold food, and we each got a flagon of ale. (There's no downside to drinking in SAO, and we weren't underage drinking because that isn't a law in SAO) We drank, ate, and celebrated to our hearts content that we were finally making our way out of this game. We left the restaurant with a lot less money, and a lot more spirit than we went in. We left the inn and stopped at a blacksmith shop to repair the durability of our weapons, and we set out to find a place to camp.

We found a good shaded place to camp at the bottom of the mountain, next to a cave. We set up camp, the tents, sleeping bags, campfire, and logs for sitting on. Still in good spirits from the ale, we decided to have some friendly competitions. We each had a three minute wrestling match against each other, a race, and arm wrestling matches.

"You ready Shigeo?" Ryota asked me. I nodded.

"Go!" Noburo shouted. Ryota and I plowed into each other, trying to get a good hold on the other. I got a hold of Ryota's leg, but he turned and got a hold of my arm, pulling it off of his leg, and getting behind me. He wrapped his arms around my torso, trying to lift me up and get me on the ground. Every time he would pick me up however, I would contort my legs in a way as to not get put on the ground. He tried to body slam me, but I grabbed his wrist and bent in in a way that I could get free of his grip. He dropped me and I turned to him, arms out in a defencive stance. He charged again, but I slid under his legs, and popped up behind him. I grabbed his legs and lifted them up, slamming him on the ground. I slid my arms under his, and put my hands on the back off his head, pinning him."That's it!" Noburo yelled. I let Ryota go and stood up, catching my breath.

"You're really strong Ryota." I told him. He sat there, catching his breath.

"And you are really fast." He told me. I helped him up. "Now you gotta take on Noburo." Ryota told me."

"I'll pass." Noburo said. "There's a reason I use a spear, I don't do close-quarters combat."

"So I win then." I said. Ryota and I had to catch our breath, wrestling is more tiring than actually fighting monsters. When we caught our breath we had a race, which Noburo won. We found out that Noburo is the fastest one of us all in a straight up race. However, Ryota won the arm wrestling. I put up a good fight, but Ryota was like an oxe. He finally got my arm on the log, winning the arm wrestling.

We sat around the fire illuminating the night. We talked about each other in the games, and joked about being the best group in Sword Art.

"We should start a guild!" Ryota said.

"Yeah, we could become the best guild in the game, we're already the best players!" Replied Noburo, causing us to laugh.

"Yeah, but have either of you come up with a name for it?" I asked them, causing them to stare blankly at each other. "I'll take that as a no." I joked.

"Oh yeah, what about you, have you come up with a name?" Ryota asked me. I shook my head.

"No, but it was YOUR idea, you should come up with the name." I told Ryota. He just looked at a rock on the ground.

"How about…" He raised his hands in front of him and spread them apart as he said it. " The Ruby Palace Raiders." He had the biggest smile on his face. I looked at him.

"That is actually really good Ryota!" Noburo and Ryota cheered and high-fived. "But, who's going to be the guild leader?" I asked them. They looked at each other.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They shouted. Noburo threw down his hand, symbolizing scissors. However, Ryota threw down his clenched fist, rock.

"Yes! I'm the guild leader!" Ryota yelled, then frowned. "How do I make one?" He asked us. "Guys, I didn't think this through."

"Its under "_Guild" _in your menu smart one." I said. He opened his menu, clicking away at a keyboard that I could barely see. Suddenly, an icon appeared by his health bar. It looked like a picture of Aincrad with a sword on each side. It was our guild icon. Noburo and I both got an alert window. I clicked it and it said.

"_Player: Ryota would like to invite you to join a guild." _I clicked accept and watched as the guild icon appeared next to my health bar, and an alert appeared in the center of my vision. "_Stats increased."_

"Did your stats increase guys?" Noburo asked.

"They get a slight increase when you join a guild." I replied. "kind of a "way to go!" sort of thing." Noburo nodded.

"Congrats guys! We are now officially the best guild in the game!" Ryota exclaimed.

The next day, The Ruby Palace Raiders made their first exploration outing. We decided to explore the cave that we camped next to the night before.

"Ok guys, how do you feel about fighting bugs?" I asked Ryota and Noburo.

"What do you mean Shigeo?" Noburo asked with a shaking voice.

"Well, we'll have to fight worms, wasps, and beetles if we go in this cave." I replied. "Most are pretty weak, but they can ambush us in large numbers. Plus, this is a game so it's not like they're really touching you."

"Yeah ok, whatever you say Shigeo." Noburo replied.

"Ruby Palace Raiders, onward!" Ryota yelled. We marched into the mouth of the cave, excited for a new adventure. I had my new leather armor, sword, named "_Eclipse"_, and dagger, named "_Blackout"_. Ryota had his new plate armor and two handed sword, named "_Gladius"_. Finally, Noburo and his new spear, named "_Cyclone"_, and his new leather/metal armor. The emblem of our guild nestled onto left side of our chests.. We had to sacrifice a combat related skill to make room for night vision, due to the cave being inside a hill. We kept a look out, as not to get ambushed by wasps with poison stingers.

"This would be easier if we could use our searching skills with night vision." I said.

"Hm, hm." Noburo replied. Every now and then we would get jumped by a couple wind wasps, but they are only dangerous in large numbers, due to their low stats. We couldn't believe how lame that the cave was, we were blowing through it no problem.

"Guys, this sucks." Ryota said. Noburo and I agreed." Everything so far could be killed in one or two hits." We were about to turn around and head out, but the cave had other ideas. We rounded a corner, only to be face-to-face with a swarm of giant hornets.

"These weren't in the beta, I have no idea what these are." I said. Ryota and Noburo gasped. "But, at least you'll get early experience without my prior knowledge." I told them.

"Whatever, at least it starts early." Ryota replied. We got ready to fight, and charged. With a massive battle yell, we rushed the wasps. With me taking out wasps one by one with astounding speed, Ryota taking them out with huge, crushing swings, and Noburo impaling multiple with one strike. As I used sword skills to kill wasps with a blade glowing red, blue, yellow, and purple, I could feel multiple stings from the wasps on my back, arms, legs, etc. I watched my health decrease, as well as getting the "_Stun" _effect from repeated stings to my body. I actually started to worry about my health, due to it falling so fast.

"Yo Ryota! How are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Not good!" He replied. I turned to Noburo.

"What about you Noburo?!"

"About the same!" I dug into my quick access pouch, pulling out three bright red crystals, throwing them to the guys. They both caught a crystal, using them. I used one as well, depleting our reserves. We fought for a good five minutes straight, never stopping, but paying close attention to our health bars.

"AAAHHH!" Yelled Ryota as he finished off the last wasp in what appeared to be the nest. A window appeared in front of each one of us.

"_Congratulations! Level 14→ 15"_

"_Congratulations! Level 14→ 15"_

"_Congratulations! Level 13→ 14"_

"Yeah!" We cheered. We sorted through our inventories, marking the items from the wasps for sale.

"We'll be rich from all this loot!" Noburo cheered.

"I think we should be happier that we made it through that alive and leveled up in the process." I replied. As I said that a light appeared ahead of us at the end of the corridor. We walked very cautiously, trying not to get ambushed again. As we exited the cave, a figure jumped over your heads, landing in front of us. It resembled the "_Minotaur"_ from greek mythology. It was easily seven feet tall, with only strap-like armor, underwear, and a huge hammer.

"Now we have to deal with this." Ryota mused.

"Yeah, but there is only one of them this time, it should be easier than last time. Although, this is another monster that i have never seen before, even in the beta." I said.

"Well, every day's a school day." Noburo replied.

"You guys ready?" Ryota asked. Noburo and I nodded. I switched out night vision for sprint this time, due to the increased evasion chance. "Charge!" The name that appeared above the monster's health bar read "_Lesser Taurus Striker"_, so at least we knew what we were attacking. We charged at the striker, Ryota to the right of the striker, Noburo to the left, and me right down the center. We dealt blows to the striker and dodged from it, but it had a lot of health and was very fast. I ducked under a blow from the striker, and cut its stomach with a glowing blue blade. As I finished the attack however, I looked to my right, only to be struck with a crushing hammer blow. I went flying backward, skidding to a stop twenty feet away. I strained to look up, and saw my health bar flashing red.

**Thank you for reading the 7th chapter of The Cutting Edge. Please feel free to show support with a review, follow, or favorite. Also, feel free to give OC suggestions, because I am struggling to fill in the gaps in between the major events in the story. And i will be putting the current highest floor in the Authors note. Also, thanks so much to because i am getting all names for weapons from there, they are an amazing, non-profit website that allows you to use any names they give you in anything you do. They also do not require any credit for the names, but I feel that they deserve all the praise we can give them, they are just so amazing. Thank you for existing Fantasynamegenerators. And thank you for taking your time and reading all this stuff, you are the best. Have a great day.**


	9. The Stone

**Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 15**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 15**

**Noburo-Level 14**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Eclipse (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a "Black Knight Sword" from Dark Souls, but black, more symmetrical, a more simple handguard, smaller, and a one-handed sword)  
**

**Blackout (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Rogue's Leather Armor ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Leggings ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Gloves ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 77(always equipped)**

**Leather Equipment-58(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-67(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-40(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(will be equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

Ch. 8: The Stone

I felt the crushing force of the hammer hit my face, lifting me off my feet into the air. I tumbled along the ground before skidding to a stop, twenty feet away. The "_Lesser Taurus Striker"_ was a new mob that I never seen before, even in the beta. And it was strong. I struggled to lift my head up off the ground, but when I did I saw my health just barely hanging on in the red zone.

"Shigeo! You good?!" I heard Noburo yell.

"Yeah, but I need two minutes!" I replied.

"Got it!" He shouted. I quickly opened my skill list, taking out parry and replacing it with "_Battle Healing"_. I watched my health jump up by a very small amount, and it did so every 5 seconds. At the rate it was going it would take five minutes to fully recover. I watched Ryota and Noburo parry and dodge attacks from the Taurus Striker. I saw Ryota take a glancing blow, his health dipping down not quite into the yellow zone. I looked at my own health bar, it was in the mid yellow. I saw Nobruo take a direct hit, causing him to fly back and his health turn red. I looked at my health again, high yellow, good enough. I ran back into the fight, knocking the hammer headed for Ryota to the side. I landed next to Ryota, readying for the fight. The Striker's hammer came at us from the side, but Ryota parried it. While the striker was stunned, I jumped into the air with a glowing yellow blade, bringing the sword down the striker's back. It let out a roar and turned, swinging its arm at me. I ducked under the arm, and as I did Ryota hit the striker in the back with a devastating two-hit combo. The Taurus turned, bringing its hammer around to hit Ryota. With the amount of health Ryota had, the blow would kill him. He couldn't dodge due to the "_Post Motion Delay"_, and the Taurus was out of reach for me to hit it.

"Ryota!" I shouted. Just before the hammer made contact with Ryota however, a glowing red spear embedded itself in the striker's head. The striker swelled and exploded into the familiar glowing shards. I looked over as the spear fell to see Noburo, with health showing red, standing and panting in a way that looked like he threw something. I smiled and shouted. "Nice job Noburo!"

"Yeah, you just saved my skin!" Added Ryota. Noburo smiled, still panting. I bent over and picked up his spear. I walked over with Ryota and handed Noburo the spear.

"Nice throw by the way!" I complimented him. Ryota agreed.

"Thanks guys." Noburo responded. When he finished talking, we all got a window in front of us.

"_1 Dungeon Item."_ We clicked _open _and a big tan rock with flecks of grey fell into our arms.

"What is this?" Ryota asked.

"I think it's a metal ore." I replied.

"That means you could make new stuff Shigeo!" Noburo exclaimed. I shook my head.

"No, I can't. I don't have any smelting skills, and my other skills can't outdo the things we have. Heck, I can barely repair our equipment." I replied. Noburo frowned.

"Well, there must be a blacksmith in town that could make something." Ryota said. Noburo nodded.

"But, I don't think we should. I think that I should buy more ore and make a bunch of weapons, especially spears so we can save money in the future." I told them. They nodded.

We headed back into town and found a blacksmith shop. Ryota, Noburo, and I bought some health crystals at a different store, so we pooled all our money so we could get as much ore as possible.

"Good afternoon fellas!" The Blacksmith said. He was an NPC resembling an older man, he was a little shorter than me, but very muscular, with thinning short grey hair.

"Good afternoon to you." I replied. "I was wondering what this ore was." I held up the ore we got from the dungeon. The man's expression turned to that of surprise and he pointed at the ore.

"That's… "_Taurus Iron"_!" He replied. "It's an extremely rare ore!" I held up the other two pieces. The man looked like he had won the lottery. "How did you get so much?!" He asked.

"We fought a Taurus Striker and it dropped this." I explained.

"You guys managed to defeat a striker?!"

"Yeah, just barely." Ryota chimed in.

"Around here, that make you the second group of people to defeat one! You can have anything in the store for half off!" He told us. Now we looked like we had won the lottery.

"Really?" We asked. He nodded.

"I'll take as much iron ingots as 9,000 Col can buy." I told him. He recoiled.

"Nine thousand?!" He exclaimed.

"And I'll add an extra 1,000 Col if you let me use your blacksmithing equipment and smelt this into ingots for me." I said. He smiled.

"It's a deal!" He said. I turned to the RPR. (Ruby Palace Raiders)

"You guys can go do whatever you like until I'm done." I opened my menu and looked at the time, 2:30. "We'll meet up at the restaurant from last night at 5:30."

"Ok Shigeo, you going to make weapons that whole time?" Noburo asked.

"Yeah, I'll make a bunch of spears to raise that skill up to the level of my slash weapon forging." I told him.

"You don't have to do that shigeo." He said.

"Nah, it won't take all of these, so I'll make something for Ryota and myself too." I assured him. "I've never had this amount of materials before, I'll raise both skills higher than what my slash weapon forging is at now. Don't worry about it."

"Ok then." He replied. "We'll see you later Shigeo."

"See you guys!" I replied. As they walked away I turned back to the blacksmith. He opened a menu and clicked a few things. A trade window appeared in front of me. I entered the 10,00 Col and hit accept.

"Right back this way sir." He said to me. I followed him back into a door, and when he opened it I saw an anvil, a furnace, and everything else needed to forge weapons and armor. "Hand me that ore and I'll smelt it for yah." The man said. I handed him the ore. "By the way, my name's Tsutomu." He held out his hand. I shook his hand.

"And I'm Shigeo, nice to meet you Tsutomu."

"You too Shigeo." He walked over to the smelting furnace, and I walked over to the forging flame. I opened my menu and equipped some simple black smithing garb, instead of my armor. I equipped the "_thrust weapon forging"_ skill, replacing battle healing. I brought out two iron ingots from my inventory, grabbing some tongs and setting them in the fire. I waited the appropriate amount of time before taking the ingot out with the tongs and setting them on the anvil. I grabbed a hammer and started pounding the iron ingots into one mass, then continued to hit it. I hit the red-hot metal about eight times before it started glowing. I stopped hitting it and watched the mass of metal change shape. The glow finally faded away and what was left was a very weak and simple two-handed spear. By this time Tsutomu had finished with the first peice of Taurus Iron Ore, and turned it into a Taurus Iron Ingot. He set it down and started on the next piece, and I had started on another spear. I did this for the next couple hours, and then I worked on my slash weapon forging when my thrust weapon forging was two levels above it. In the end, it was a good day for leveling skills. I even was able to buy ore and other materials for making armor when I sold the weapons. I increased my light metal armor and heavy metal armor forging. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:20, so I didn't have time to make anything for the guys or myself. I swapped out the blacksmith cloths for a basic grey shirt and black, jean-like pants. I was about to walk back into the main part of the store when I heard a small, nasally voice.

"I would like an upgrade to be applied to my "_Claws"_." I heard the voice say. "_Claws"_, they were weapons that a person would wear on their hands and they would stick out from between the knuckles, hence the name "_Claws"_. There was only one person I knew with that voice who used claws, Argo. I opened the door and walked into the room. I saw Tsutomu talking to Argo, I knew it was her even if all I could see was the back of the cloak she was wearing. I walked behind her and put my hands over her eyes.

"Guess whooooo!" I said. Argo pulled away, reaching for her claws, but stopping when she saw me. I smiled.

"Jeez Shigeo." She said with a slight nasal inflection ending the sentence. "Do you always have to sneak up behind me?" Argo was a short, nimble girl with brown eyes, with curly auburn hair, and three red whisker-looking marks on each side of her face. These "_Whiskers" _were originally a mark from a quest to earn an extra skill. She was nice, but all business, I guess that's why I liked messing with her like that. She was an info broker, someone who would sell info for Col or other payments.

"I like messing with you." I replied. She scowled at me. "So, you trying at the stone again?" I gestured to her whiskers.

"These are make up." She explained. I chuckled.

"Argo "**The rat" **now has whiskers on her face permanently!" I laughed. "It fits!" She was called "**The rat" **due to her job as an info broker.

"Someone suggested it so I did it, besides, it does fit my nickname." She told me. I looked over and saw Tsutomu looking at us.

"One second." I mouthed to him. He gave me a thumbs up. "Speaking of whiskers, is it still here, or is that why you have makeup?" She looked at me.

"You know the drill." She told me.

"Really? *sigh* How much?" I asked her.

"100."

"Really, that's not even worth it to you." She shrugged. "Fine." I opened my menu and handed her a pouch with 100 Col in it.

"Yes, it is still in the game." She said.

"Thank you argo." I looked at the time. "Oh, I have to go, but first." I opened my menu and sent her a friend request. "For old time's sake." I winked and Argo rolled her eyes.

"Fine Shigeo, but you're not getting any discounts." I laughed.

"Of course not." I chuckled. I turned and walked to the door. "Bye Argoooo!" She waved at me. I turned and shut the door. "K, how do I get to that restaurant again?" I opened my menu and brought up my map, Ryota, Noburo, and Argo appeared on it. I walked in the direction of Noburo and Ryota, excited to tell them the news.

"Congratulations to Shigeo for a great day of training!" Ryota cheered.

"And what a good job to Ryota in the ambush!" said Noburo.

"And what a great throw to Noburo!" I added. We clicked our drinks together. (They were just berry juice that time) "And to add to the good news, I know of a place to get an extra skill." Noburo and Ryota almost spit out their drinks.

"What do you mean by _"extra skill"_!?" Ryota asked.

"I mean a skill that takes specific actions to acquire." I told them. "This specific skill allows you to fight without a weapon."

"You already can." Noburo replied.

"I mean using sword skill with your hands." I explained.

"That sounds awesome." Ryota said.

"Only thing is, it requires you to break an almost unbreakable rock. When I did it in the beta, it took me three days and almost the entire third night, but this time it won't."

"It took YOU three days?! There is no way we can do it in less than four days." Noburo said.

"Talk for yourself Noburo! I beat him in arm wrestling!" Ryota said.

"It requires more than just strength." I told him. "It requires disipline and patience. Both of which you struggle with Ryota." I joked.

"Whatever Shigeo!" He replied.

*Noburo laughing*

"Anyway, tomorrow morning we should go find and do the quest. It'll be usefull to not have to rely on weapons in the field." I said.

"You're right Shigeo." Ryota said.

"Yeah, it'll be fun." Added Noburo.

"For the first day maybe." I joked. "Ruby Palace Raiders " I shouted. We clinked our drinks together.

The next day we woke up, ate some breakfast I made, and I sent a message to Argo. _"Where can I find it?" _I attached a gift of 300 Col as a guarantee of the info. I waited for a moment.

_"Here." _There was an attachment with map data in it.

"Ok guys, everyone ready?" I asked. Noburo and Ryota nodded.

"Yeah, let's go get that extra skill!" Ryota said.

"Yeah!" Added Noburo. As we left the town I looked at the map data, telling the guys to follow me to the quest. We had to stop a couple times to defeat some mobs, and I practiced with my dagger for once. On the horizon we saw this giant stone and wood structure, resembling an ancient Japanese temple. I told them to follow my lead. We walked up to the front of the structure and saw an old man meditating in a gazebo. We walked up to him and stopped when he opened his eyes. He was an old man with thinning grey hair and and almost equally grey eyes. He was wearing a black martial arts gi.

"Who approaches my sacred sanctum?" He asked.

"Those who wish to learn the way." I replied. He opened his arms.

"What are your names?" I bowed.

"I am known as Shigeo." I told him. Ryota bowed.

"I am known as Ryota." Last, Noburo bowed.

"I am known as Noburo." He told him. We straightened our bodies as he stood and walked over to us. He bowed and said.

"My name is Yamada." He straightened out. "But if you wish for me to teach you, you can address me as sensei."

"Yes sensei." We said in unison. It bothered me slightly to call someone that, especially an NPC, but I could swallow my pride in this case.

"Are you willing to do anything I tell you to in order to learn?" He asked us.

"Yes sensei." We responded. He turned to a rack of folded martial arts gi's and pulled three white ones of of the rack. He walked over to us, giving each of us a gi.

"You are expected to sleep here, outside, and to wear that at all times." Yamada told us.

"Yes sensei." We replied. He motioned for us to follow him. We followed him around to the back of the structure where there was a line of large stones.

"For you to learn my secrets, you must break one stone each. You have as long as it takes to complete this task. Once you do, I'll teach you my technique." Yamada told us.

"Yes sensei!" We replied. He walked off back into the building. I turned to the guys.

"So, you guys ready to start this quest for some un-armed combat?" I asked.

"Yeah! Let's get this party started!" Ryota said. I laughed and opened my menu, equipping the gi.

"Now I'm feeling all nostalgic." I said. "You know the last time I wore one of these?"

"The beta." Ryota said. As he equipped his.

"Well, yeah, but…" I stammered.

"He's right." Noburo added. As he equipped his.

"Whatever, let's just do this." I walked over to the stone, equipping my _"Acrobatics"_ skill. Ryota went to the stone to my right and Noburo went to the one on my left. I got into my personal favorite fighting stance, knowing this would take a while. I brought my right hand up putting by my right ear, palm toward my head, pressing my fingers together and bringing my thumb up and putting the pad against the side of my hand. "Uhg!" I swung my hand at the stone, the outside edge of my hand slamming into the stone, and coming to an instant stop. "Gah!" I said. I saw Ryota and Noburo trying to hit it as hard as possible, but to no prevail. "Guys, it isn't just about how hard you hit it, but how." They turned to look at me. I pointed to a small crack in the stone. "You find the opponent's weak spot, then, you plan your attack…" I got into a fighting stance with my right leg behind me, bent, and pointing to my right at a 90 degree angle. my left leg in front of me, bent, with almost no weight on it. "...then you strike." I spun to my left. I did a full 360 and brought my right leg around, slamming the top of my foot into the crack in the stone.

"But in the end, you still didn't break it." Noburo said.

"Like I said, last time it took me three days to break this thing." I replied. "Just, go hit the rock." I told him. Noburo and Ryota laughed and went back to attacking the stone. We had been at it for about three hours and were taking a break when we heard a girl's voice.

"One who wishes to learn the way." We heard her say.

"Follow me." We heard Yamada say after a while. We heard footsteps and then we saw Yamada and a girl walking towards us. She had long red hair, and dark green eyes, was about 5'9"-5'10", a slightly dark tan, and had a silver-colored dagger strapped to her hip. "Break one of these stones, and I will teach you my technique." Yamada then walked away, leaving the girl to the task of breaking the stone. She walked over to us, smiled, and said.

"Hey, I'm Akane."

* * *

**IMPORTANT! READ!**

**Thank you for reading chapter eight of The Cutting Edge and for the continued support of the story. Also, Iwill be hosting an art show, everyone is free to draw any charater from the story, send it to me, and I will put it into a Pinterest board dedicated to this story. I will label the name of the character, as well as what ever you want me to call you so that you get the credit. There will be no contest, and I will put every and all pictures into the board. Please send pictures to Borderlinefreeze . To see the board once it is created, go to pinterest and search for the username: BorderlineFrz. Thank you for your time, and for any participation in this event.**


	10. Recklessness

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to Funimation, A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 15**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 15**

**Noburo-Level 14**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Eclipse (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a "Black Knight Sword" from Dark Souls, but black, more symmetrical, a more simple handguard, smaller, and a one-handed sword)  
**

**Blackout (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Rogue's Leather Armor ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Leggings ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Gloves ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 77(always equipped)**

**Leather Equipment-58(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-67(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-42(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(will be equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

Ch. 9: Recklessness

"Hi, I'm akane." She said as she walked over.

"Hello." I replied. She sat down in front of us on the grass.

"What are your names?" Akane asked us. I held out my hand.

"I'm Shigeo." I said as she shook my hand. Ryota held his hand out.

"I'm Ryota." He said as she shook his hand. Noburo then held his hand out.

"I-I'm N-Noburo." He stammered, Akane shook his hand, letting out a slight chuckle.

"Nice to meet you guys." Akane said as she leaned back. "So, how long have you guys been here?" She asked.

"Three hours." Ryota replied in a sour tone. "And we aren't any closer to breaking these things."

"He didn't believe me when I told him it would take a while." I told her. She let out a little laugh.

"Well, isn't this a welcome sight." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I mean, it isn't everyday you meet a group of people that approve of a Beta tester." We recoiled.

"It was that obvious, huh?" I replied.

"You said that you told him how long it would take, so yeah." She explained. I laughed.

"Guess I'd better work on that huh?" She laughed and nodded her head. I felt Ryota tap me on the shoulder.

"Ready to get back to it?" He asked me. I nodded my head and turned to Akane.

"I assume this is what you're here for." She nodded and opened her menu, equipping the gi. We walked back over to the stones, the same ones we were at before. We started hitting the stones in a variety of ways, but to no avail. I happened to look over to where Akane was, and what I saw surprised me. She was in a perfect stance, the same as me, and she was jumping into the air, spinning, and slamming her heel into a crack in the stone. I stood for a second, dumbstruck at the skill she demonstrated. I finally snapped myself out of it, returning to my own devices.

Meanwhile, a group of people were in search of the boss room, but they ran into a problem. They were by no means a big enough raid party for a boss, even a mini boss. The Trembling Ox, an ox monster that has basic attack patterns, but enormous strength. The only mob bigger in size is the "_Trembling Cow"_, which is treated like a mini boss due to its abnormal size. On the second floor, in order to get to the floor boss, you first had to get through the "Bullbous Bow_"_, a field boss. The boss was a Trembling ox, but it was bigger and stronger than the Trembling cow. It would require at least a couple parties, but this group was not even half as big as a floor boss party. However, they were about to make a terrible decision. They walked onto the field containing the boss.

"Aaahh!" I slammed my fist into the stone, but still nothing. "Aaahh!" I slammed the top of my foot into the stone, nothing.

"Come on Shigeo, take a break." I heard Ryota say. "It's getting dark."

"Fine." I replied as I turned and took a seat between Ryota and Akane.

"Aren't you tired?" Ryota asked me. I shook my head. "But we've been going nonstop for two hours." I waved a hand.

"Bah, I've gone longer in the real world. Remember, I've been learning how to fight since I was three and martial arts since I was seven." I heard Akane gasp.

"What's wrong?" Noburo asked. Akane put her hands over her mouth and stared at me.

"Shigeru?" She asked. My eyes widened.

"How do you know my name?" I asked. She didn't say anything. "How do you know my name?" I repeated. She lowered her hands.

"Do you have a friend named Satoru?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I hesitantly replied. She gasped.

"He's my brother, you used to come over to our house!¨ I couldn't believe my ears.

"Amaya?!" I always thought of Satoru as a brother, and her as a sister. I was 15 at the time, so she would have been 13. "You are a lot taller than I remember." I said. She laughed and gestured at me.

"I could say the same about you!" I laughed, but then I remembered what this meant.

"Satoru isn't in here then, is he?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"No, just me."

"I'm sorry you got involved in all this." I told her, like I said, she was like a sister.

"It's fine, at least my brother isn't here as well." I nodded. I looked over at Ryota and Noburo because they had been quite this whole time. I saw them whispering to each other.

"What'cha guys talking about?" I said, causing them to jump.

"N-nothing!" Noburo said.

"Yeah, nothing!" Agreed Ryota.

"Whatever." I opened my menu and checked the time, 8:37. "I guess it's not as late as I thought it was." I said. I walked over got up and walked to the center of our circle and got down on one knee as I opened my menu. I took three pieces of firewood out of the guild storage and set them on the ground. I then acquired some stones and put them in a circle around the fire. I added some dry grass then took out a flint and steel from my inventory. I stuck the flint and steel until the grass caught fire, then I added some small twigs and tinder. The fire consumed the grass a tinder slow enough that the larger logs caught fire as well. I turned, taking four larger logs from my inventory and giving one to Ryota, Norburo, and Akane.

"What's this for?" Akane asked me.

"It's for sitting on." Replied Ryota. "None of us have any woodcrafting skills, so this is the best we got." Ryota and Norburo stood up, placing a log underneath each of them, then Akane followed suit. I walked back to my spot, placing down a log and sitting down. I opened my menu and swapped out the gi for a more comfortable outfit, a dark grey cotton shirt and black cotton pants. Ryota, Noburo, and Akane changed as well.

"So Shigeo, you think we're getting any closer to breaking these stupid rocks?" Noburo asked me.

"I think so, but we still have a while before they're going to break." I told him. "At the rate we're going, it's either going to be late tomorrow or the next day. Although, it could be earlier, I've been wrong before."

"Well, that's good then. We can get back to the front lines in no time then." Ryota said.

"Shigeru, I mean Shigeo, always in the action huh?" Akane said to me. I shrugged.

"It's boring being in the back." I replied, causing Akane to laugh.

"You haven't changed a bit Shiger- Shigeo." She said.

"You can call me Shigeru if you want, just not in front of anyone other than Ryota or Noburo."

"Thanks, same to you." Amaya replied. I looked over and saw Ryota and Noburo whispering to each other again, but I let it go. We sat in silence for a while watching the fire when I heard Ryota speak up.

"Hey Shigeo." I turned to him. "You have any food left?" He asked me.

"Lets see." I replied as I opened my menu. I looked at the food category and saw four sandwiches that we bought in town before we left. I summoned all four into my arms and tossed one to Noburo and Ryota. I turned to Amaya and handed her a sandwich. I then tossed everyone a flask of water. I took the wrapping off of the sandwich and took a bite. The taste was literally indescribable because it didn't taste like anything in the real world. We ate our food in contempt and silence.

"Watch out!" Screamed the leader of the party as three of his men took a direct hit from the field boss and went flying. They struggled to get up after that. "Group B, charge!" The reinforcement team charged in to take the place of the main attack force. They attacked the weakest part of the Bull, the legs. "DPS, recover!" The leader yelled to the group that got hit by the bull as they pulled out healing potions. The bull lifted up it's front legs, preparing an AOE attack. "Tanks, switch in!" The tank squad moved in, but there weren't enough. The bull came down, creating an enormous shock wave and sending the shield users flying. The DPS team jumped back into the action. "Not yet!" The bull ducked its head and charged at the players. Three players got hit directly and went flying into the air, shattering into multicolored shards. Two others got grazed by the attack, but it still brought their health down by a third. "Damnit!" The leader sprinted over to the two fallen players, healing them with healing crystals. "Now get back in there and don't get hit!" The party leader turned to the other groups standing in the back, waiting. "Everybody, charge!" The players let out a deafening battle cry and charged at the bull. The leader turned and drew his two-handed great hammer. All of the players in the field charged at the bull. A flurry of attacks made contact with the legs of the bull, causing it's health to go down consistently. One player dashed over to the back of the bull, trying to hit its back legs, only to be met with a crushing kick to the face. The player flew back and shattered into fluorescent shards. "No!" The leader slammed his hammer into the knee of the bull, causing it to get stunned. "Back away!" The leader yelled as the bull raised its legs. Some players weren't fast enough though, three got killed by the shockwave, and one got crushed. "No."

I slammed my fist into the rock, sending a jolt up my arm. I shook my arm to rid myself of the tingling feeling. We were 6 hours into our second day of trying to break the rocks, and we were all getting tired of it.

"If this thing doesn't break soon, I'm gonna lose my mind." I heard Ryota say.

"Stop being so impatient Ryota." I heard Amaya say. "Look at Shigeru, he's not complaining."

"Yeah, but I have done this before." I told her.

"Still..." She replied.

"Whatever." Ryota said. He proceeded to punch the stone as hard as he could, causing his arm to obtain the _"broken" _status. The status meant that he would have limited movement in his arm for three minutes. "Seriously?!"

"Calm down Ryota, chill. Go inside and calm down, then come back out once you've cooled off." I told him.

"Fine." He replied as he walked away.

"What's his problem?" Amaya asked me as he entered the temple. I shrugged.

"He must not like doing the same thing over and over again. I don't know." I told her. "I hope he doesn't give up though, we need this skill." Noburo walked over to us.

"Hey guys, what's his problem?" Noburo asked Amaya and me.

"No idea, he's mad that the rock isn't broken yet, he must want to get back to the front lines." Amaya told him.

"We all do, but the rest of us aren't freaking out." Noburo replied. "I wonder what's wrong with him."

"I'll go talk to him." I told them. I turned and walked into the temple, determined to find out what was wrong with Ryota. I walked into the temple and searched for Ryota. I found him in the dining room sitting down on the floor. I walked over and sat by him. "What's your deal man? You got mad out there for no reason." He turned his head to look at me.

"You want to know what my deal is?! We have been stuck in here for over a month and we can't even break this f***ing rock! How are we supposed to survive this game?!" I slapped him hard.

"Get your shit together! Can you break a rock that big in real life with your bare hands?! No, but you can fight, win, and survive! So get your crap together and be a man!" I yelled at him. He stared at me with this dumbfounded look on his face. He looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry." He said. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go break this rock." I told him. He nodded and stood up and we walked back outside. "We're back." I said as we entered the courtyard. We went back to our rocks. Ryota punched his rock and I kicked mine. When we made contact, the stone broke into small chunks of rock, then each of those exploded into glowing shards. Ryota and I looked at each other.

"Yeah! We finally did it Shigeo!" He yelled. I high-fived him as Noburo and Amaya walked over.

"Really?! You guys suck!" Noburo said in a joking tone.

"Well, congrats Shigeru. I'm happy for you." Amaya said "You top Ryota."

"Thanks Amaya." I told her.

"Thanks Akane." Ryota replied. She smiled. Yamada, the grandmaster, walked out of the building toward us. We lined up and bowed as he approached.

"Rise." He told us. We straightened up and he held out two gi's, but these were black. "You have proven yourself to me, you may now learn my secrets. Put these on." Ryota and I each took a gi, swapping out our white ones for the black ones. When we put them on, an alert appeared in front of us.

""_Martial Arts" Skill added." _We looked up at Yamada as he bowed. We bowed in return.

"Thank you for your teachings master." I said.

"You have earned it, young masters." We bowed again. He walked back into the temple, leaving us to our own devises. Ryota and I turned to Amaya and Noburo.

"Well, get back to work guys, don't keep us waiting." I joked. Amaya playfully punched my arm.

"I won't be long Shigeru." She told me. She walked back to her rock.

"Neither will I Shigeo." Noburo said. He also walked back to his rock. I turned to Ryota.

"Want to try this out?" I asked him

"Yeah."

The leader of the mini-boss so-called raid group sat in the restaurant, clutching his head in his hands.

"How could I be so dumb?" He asked himself. "There was no way we could have won." His second in command walked in the room. "How many did we lose?" The leader asked him.

"Sixteen."

* * *

Thank you for reading Ch. 9 of The Cutting Edge. It means so much to me the amount of support this story has been getting, especially because this is the first real story I've ever written in my life. You guys or the best. Thank you.


	11. The Young Masters

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 15**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 15**

**Noburo-Level 14**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Eclipse (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a "Black Knight Sword" from Dark Souls, but black, more symmetrical, a more simple handguard, smaller, and a one-handed sword)  
**

**Blackout (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Rogue's Leather Armor ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Leggings ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Gloves ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 77(always equipped)**

**Leather Equipment-58(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped ****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-67(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-42(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Martial Arts- 50 (When expecting to have to fight without weapons for any reason.)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 10: The Young Masters

"Come on guys, don't keep us waiting." I joked as Ryota and I watched Noburo and Amaya try to break the stones.

"Shut UP Shigeo!" Noburo yelled. Ryota and I laughed. "How did you manage to break the rock already?!" He yelled as he kicked the rock as hard as he could.

"Because we're awesome." Ryota said. I high-fived him.

"Says the one who was freaking out a little while ago." Amaya replied.

"Whatever, still broke it." Ryota replied. He propped his feet up on a rock. I curled my fingers into a fist, making my hand glow a bright blue.

"All I know, is that I really missed this." I said. "It's been months since I was able to do this." I added as I made my hand glow again.

"Yeah, just wait, we'll have this rock broken by the end of the day." Noburo said.

¨Yeah, you'll see Shigeru." Amaya said. I turned to Ryota.

"Hey Ryota, rematch?" I asked him as I made my hand glow. He stood up.

"Sure, why not." He replied. I stood up and we walked over to an open area where the others couldn't see us.

"Ok, we can do anything we want, but the majority of the hits have to be the skills. Deal?"

"Deal." I sent him a duel request, once either of our health bars go into the yellow zone, the duel would end. He clicked accept and the countdown started.

_3… _I got into a fighting stance

_2… _Ryota got into his fighting stance

_1… _We smiled

_GO! _Our right hand glew a bright blue as we charged at each other. Our hands came up above our heads, coming down toward the other's. Our hands crashed into each other, causing a bright blue flash to appear right before we got thrown backward. We skidded to a stop before Ryota charged at me again. As he ran, he lifted up his arm, again using the skill.

"Too easy Ryota." I said. You can't stop a sword skill once you've started it, all you can do is watch your opponent counter you. Once he got close, I put my arm up horizontally above my head and planted my right foot between his feet. When his arm came down, my forearm went under it and hit the crook of his elbow. His arm slid off of mine as I brought my hand up, slamming the palm into his face. He stumbled back a couple meters from the blow. He smiled.

"You don't know this Shi, but back in school, I was the big man on campus." He said, causing me to smile.

"Then I guess I found an actual challenge other than the person who taught me." I replied.

"And who was that?" He asked as he put his hands up in a boxing fight stance. I copied his technique and slid into a boxing stance.

"My dad." I told him. "The 1995 Golden Gloves champion." His eyes widened before he smiled.

"So, it was your dad who beat mine for that title." He told me.

"They gave us their skills, and we're putting them to the test. Round one." I brought my hands up as he stepped towards me. He threw a punch to my stomach, but I brought my arm down just enough to block it, but not enough to expose my face. I retaliated by planting my foot side of his, I brought my shoulder down then swung my arm up toward his face. But he leaned backward so my arm missed his head. He stepped back and threw a punch using the sword skill. I brought both of my arms up to block the punch, but it hit much harder than a regular punch. The force of the punch pushed me back and brought my health down by a small amount. I recovered and planted my left foot in between his feet. I quickly swung my left hand at his stomach, causing him to bright his arms down just enough for me to quickly activate the sword skill and land a direct hit to his face. His head swung back as he slid back about 2 meters. He skidded to a stop before smiling. He came back and we exchanged blows back and forth, blocking and countering. It was a stalemate before he used the sword skill with such force that my arms couldn't take the force. His hand broke through my defence and slammed into my face. I fell backward, but instantly got up. I retaliated by rushing at him with a flurry of punches. We were at it for about 30 seconds before we realized we were at a stalemate.

"Timeout." Ryota said. "At this rate, we'll both run out of health just from blocked blows. We should use potions, then continue with no rules. Except for no weapons." I smiled.

"Remember, you brought this upon yourself." I replied. Ryota ended the duel. He smiled and pulled two potions from the guild storage and handed me one. I drank the viscous liquid and watched my health bar climb to full. I tossed the empty crystal container off to the side and heard it break into glowing shards. Ryota sent me a new duel request. I clicked accept again and slid into a more versatile stance. Ryota planted himself back into a boxing stance. The duel counted down.

_3...2...1...GO! _I stood there and waited. He stepped forward with caution, but not hesitation. When he got close enough, he threw a punch with his left hand but brought it back and threw a heavy right haymaker. He wouldn't fall for the same trick again, so I ducked and his hand went over his head. I came back up with a left uppercut and made direct contact with his chin. His head snapped back, but due to the absence of most pain in SAO he didn't react like someone would in real life. I followed up by turning my body and thrusting my leg out to the side, kicking him in the stomach and sending him stumbling backward. He got back in his stance though and ran forward with a fist in the air. I got ready to block it, but once he got close he brought the hand back and thrust his leg out straight and slammed his heel into my stomach. I got thrown back from the force and landed on my back. He jumped on me, straddling me. His hand glew a bright blue as he brought it down toward my head. I moved my head at the last moment and his hand slammed into the ground where my head was. I threw a right hook toward his head, but he blocked it and punched me in the side of the head with his other hand. My health bar was about a third of the way from the yellow zone. He threw another punch, but I blocked it and grabbed his arm. I twisted my body to the left and pulled his arm with it. He fell off of me and I rolled onto him. I threw punch after punch, some making contact and some being blocked. I activated the skill and brought my hand to the side of his head. His health bar went down about a third of the way to the yellow zone from that one hit. He got his foot under my stomach and kicked me off of him. I got my hands back up and charged at him. I jumped in the air and kicked toward his head. He sidestepped and I landed on the ground behind him. I looked over my shoulder, spun, and tried to slam the bottom of my fist into his head, but he brought his arms up and blocked it. He grabbed my arm and flipped me over his shoulder. I crashed into the ground and Ryota lifted his foot. I rolled off to the side as his foot slammed into the ground. I stood up and landed a glowing blue fist into his stomach. He got punched back and came to a skidding stop. I stood there and waited for Ryota. He charged like an animal, so I prepared. However, when he got close he stopped and kicked my shin. My leg fell out from under me and I fell on my face. I then felt a heavy force on my back, so heavy that my back curled from the blow. I watched my health stop about a forth from the yellow zone. I rolled off to the side and stood up. I looked at Ryota and made a plan. I ran at him like he did, but I didn't stop. I figured he would sidestep if I jump-kicked again, so I aimed to the left. He sidestepped, right into the path of my kick. My foot hit him in the stomach and brought his health down to the same level as mine. He immediately retaliated with a hard punch with the skill. I brought my left arm under his, I grabbed his wrist with both hands, turned, and flipped him over my shoulder. He landed on the ground and I slammed a blue fist into his stomach. His health dipped into the yellow zone and giant letter appeared above my head.

"_WINNER!" _Ryota laid his head on the ground. I stepped around him and held a hand out. He grabbed it and I helped him up.

"Damn Shigeo, you're not supposed to feel pain in here, but that aches." I chuckled and held out a health potion for him. "Thanks." He said as he took one. We drank the potion on the way back to the others. We rounded the corner and saw Yamada handing Noburo and Amaya each a black gi. We waited out the formalities and walked over to Noburo and Amaya. They each equipped their black gi's.

"Well, congrats guys!" I told them. "You look good in that." I said to Amaya, causing her to stick her tongue out at me. I smiled.

"Yeah, it took forever, but…" Noburo made his hand glow. "...it was worth it."

"They aren't all that great now, but with a little leveling up, I promise they get better" I told them.

"Now what?" Noburo asked. My smile disappeared.

"I don't know." I said. "I didn't really think about it." I then realized something. "Amaya, are you in a guild?" She smiled.

"No, I've been going solo this whole time. So I accept your inevitable invitation." She replied.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it." I told her. "Ryoda, Noburo, you good with this?"

"Of course." Ryota said. I looked at Noburo and he looked like he won the lottery.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Noburo said. I chuckled.

"Ryota, go ahead." I told him. Ryota opened his menu and sent Amaya a guild invite. She clicked accept and the icon appeared above her health bar.

"Welcome to the Ruby Palace Raiders! Or the RPR for short." Ryota said to Amaya. "Population, well now four." Amaya smiled.

"Glad to hear it." She replied. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, we have to do something else too." I sent her a friend invite, which she accepted. "Just like when we were kids." I told her. "let's go." We re-equipped our armor and went on our way.

We decided to head back into town so that we could restock on supplies that we used while we were back at the temple. We were sitting in a restaurant eating the first real meal in two days. We were discussing what our next move should be.

"We should go on ahead and look for the labyrinth of this floor." Noburo suggested.

"Yeah, if we don't then it'll just be that much longer until this game is cleared." Ryota added.

"They're right, we should move on." Akane told me. I nodded.

"Yeah, it's still early, we could move on today if you guys, and girl..." I looked at Akane and she stuck her tongue out at me. "... want to." I took a bite of my sandwich.

"That's fine with me." Ryota said.

"Same here." Noburo agreed.

"Yeah, it's been too long since I've been to the front lines." Akane said.

"Then it's decided, ready?" I asked them. They nodded. "Ok then." I drank the rest of my drink and set the mug down with a small bag of col. We made our way to the next town to the north because we figured it would be north of where we were. We had to fight through quite a few groups of enemies to even get to the next small village. Ryota, Noburo, and Akane all leveled up, and I found out that Akane was two levels ahead of me. I also saw first hand just how good she was with that dagger. She fought with a skill and speed that would beat most of the beta testers, probably even me. The entire time we were out in the field, I only saw her health go down to maybe three-fourths. It took us maybe two hours, but we finally made it to the next major town. Amaya managed to collect more ore, so I planned to up my forging skill in the near future, Ryota found a two-handed war hammer that we could sell, and Noburo found a couple of healing crystals. We found the next town and instantly noticed how much bigger it was than the last one. There was a much bigger blacksmith shop, a nicer restaurant, and best of all, a bigger, nicer inn. We walked up to the door of the inn.

"This will be so much better than sleeping on the ground in the middle of no-where." Ryota commented.

"How long were you guys out there?" Akane asked me.

"Two days, but we were camping out for a day or two before that." I told her.

"I wish I could have ran into you sooner, you could have stayed in my room." She said.

"I wish we could have met sooner too then." Ryota replied. We walked in, bought two rooms because we didn't have enough space in one room for four people.

"So, who's with who?" Noburo asked. "Who's going to stay together?"

"I volunteer to stay with Akane." Ryota said. Akane smirked at him.

"Yeah, you'd like that." She said, causing Noburo and Me to laugh. "No, I'll be with Shigeo considering he's the only one who's ever slept in the same room as me. Let alone being like a brother to me." I chuckled.

"There wasn't a better way to word that?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Nope." She replied.

"It's still early, should we go scout around the town for a bit?" I asked them.

"Yeah, the whole reason we're here is to try to progress further. It might be a good idea to look around and plan our next move." Noburo replied. We all agreed and left the town, only to be stopped by a player running up to us.

"We are recruiting players for a battle against the field boss of this floor! Please help us!"

* * *

**Read!**

First thing's first, Akane will be called Amaya by Shigeo when the group is in private. Shigeo will be called Shigeru by Akane when the group is in private. Akane will be called Akane when in public, and Shigeo will be called Shigeo when in public. Ryota and Noburo will always call them Shigeo and Akane no matter what. Thank you for reading ch. 10 of The Cutting Edge. It means so much that you guys, and girls, are still here and loving the story.


	12. Bullbous Bow

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 15**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 15**

**Noburo-Level 14**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Eclipse (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a "Black Knight Sword" from Dark Souls, but black, more symmetrical, a more simple handguard, smaller, and a one-handed sword)  
**

**Blackout (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Rogue's Leather Armor ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Leggings ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Gloves ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 77(always equipped)**

**Leather Equipment-58(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped ****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-67(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-42(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Martial Arts- 53 (When expecting to have to fight without weapons for any reason.)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 11: Bullbous Bow

We were sitting at the table of the restaurant, waiting for the leader of the of the raid party to show up.

"We've been waiting for a half hour." Ryota said. He took a drink from his mug.

"Calm down Ryota, he'll be here." Akane told him. About that time a man wearing royal-blue cloth armor walked into the restaurant, followed by two other players wearing the same colored armor. The man who looked like the leader had blue hair and blue eyes. He was about six feet tall and was of medium build. He stopped where everyone could see him and cleared his throat.

"Attention everyone! Thank you all for coming. We all know why we're here, so let's get started. My name is Lind, and I am in charge of this party." The two other players walked down the restaurant, handing everyone a royal blue cloak. "Anyone willing to participate in this fight please accept one of these cloaks. Anyone who is not willing to help, please leave now." two players left immediately. "Now, there are some things you need to know about the boss." The players handing out cloaks got to our table and handed Ryota, Noburo, Akane, and me a royal blue cloak. "First, the boss monster is an oversized version of the trembling bull called Bullbous Bow. Is anyone here not familiar with the trembling bull? If not, raise your hand." Nobody did. "Second, the attack patterns. It has two main attacks, a running charge attack and an AOE foot-stomp. During the charge attack the bull can however swing it's head to hit players to the right and left of it. If the bull paws at the ground it means that he is about to charge. If it lifts both front legs it means it is about to perform the AOE attack. It also has a couple of secondary attacks, including a kick with one of it's back legs if a player is attacking there. It can also swing it's head at players in front of it without much of a warning. Now, the strategy. The plan is to have tanks block it's charge attack and have DPS players attacking from the sides. Absolutely no attacking from the back because of the non-telegraphed kick attack. If it raises it's front legs everyone except for the tanks are to back away immediately." We will meet at the location these two will mark on your maps." He gestured to the two players on each side of him. "We meet in the field at noon tomorrow. Dismissed!"

The others and I were in the inn talking about the plan for the next day.

"So that's it? Just stay beside it and back off when it lifts it's feet?" Noburo asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Akane replied.

"Why do they need so many people for this. It sounds so simple." Noburo told her.

"Better safe than sorry." I said. I opened the menu and swung it around so the guys could see the map. I pointed to the red dot in the middle of a field. "They have their plan, but listen up." I moved my finger to the entrance to the field. "They are going to go into the field here, and the bull will most likely charge. The tanks will block the attack and the rest will swarm the boss. But what if we enter from here…" I pointed to another entrance. "... when the boss charges we'll be right in it's path and we could be beside it the moment it reaches the rest of the group. We'll get a little bit more damage dealt before the rest even have time to react. Of course I'll tell Lind, but maybe he'll have everyone do that. I could help us." I closed the menu. "What do you think?" They looked at each other then back to me.

"I think it's a good plan, but I don't think that Lind guy will accept it." Ryota said.

"We'll see." I told him.

He didn't. I told Lind my little addition to the plan and he said that if we tried it we would pay severely. I wasn't afraid of him, but I figured I'd better not stir the pot right before a boss fight.

"Ok everyone! This is it, this is what we've been waiting for! Does everyone remember the plan!?" Lind asked. There was a roar of confirmation. "Then let's get the thing started!" There was a tremendous battle cry as the players charged into the field. We saw the bull standing there as three health bars appeared above above it's head. The bull picked its head up to look at us and its eyes shined red. "Brace yourselves!" The bull pawed at the ground and charged at us. "Tanks!" The take players ran in front of everybody else and planted their shields in front of them. The rest of us ran to the sides in case the tanks couldn't hold hold the bull. The bull slammed into the tanks and stopped dead in it's tracks. "Attack!" The rest of us charged at the bull's sides, furiously attacking it's defenceless ribs and legs. There was a deafening wail of sword skills being activated. The bull, after about a third of it's first health bar was depleted, picked up it's front legs. "Back off!" Everyone who wasn't a tank dashed out of the range of the AOE. The bull brought it's legs back to the ground, causing a huge shockwave to slide the shield-wielding tanks back a few meters. The tanks then backed off to replenish their health as the rest of us charged the bull again. Ryota was delivering devastating blows against the bull's ribs, Akane delivered fast combo attacks to the bulls legs, Noburo used strong thrust attacks to various locations on the bull, and I used stronger combo attacks to deal fast damage to the bull. We dealt considerable damage to the boss, but then it backed away and pawed at the ground. Everyone backed off except for one person who tripped over a rock in the field. The bull charged at the tanks, but that player was in the way.

"Damnit!" I said. I rushed back into the path of the bull.

"What are you doing?!" Lind yelled. "Get out of the way!" The player just laid there watching the bull come closer and closer. I reached the player as the bull was only about twenty meters from us. I grabbed his shirt and threw him out of the way. The bull was now about ten meters from me and I didn't have enough time to get out of the way, so I went towards it. When the bull was about five meters away from me I dived under it's head. The bull didn't have time to react so it went over me and got stopped by the tanks. Noburo, Akane, and Ryota ran over to me.

"Are you ok?!" Akane asked.

Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

"That was awesome, but stupid Shigeo." Ryota said.

"Well, it payed off didn't it?" I replied. "Come on, we gotta get back in the fight." We ran back over to the bull and resumed the fight. We managed to get the bull down to half of it's second health bar. So far the plan was working, but I knew that things would change soon. We repeated the plan of attack, dodge, block, repeat. The bull's life dipped into it's last health bar. It picked up it's front legs for the AOE attack. Everyone but the tanks backed away and the bull came back to the ground, making the tanks' health bars to go down about a third. Unlike before however, the bull picked it's legs up a second time. The tanks' health went down another third. The bull prepared to deliver another AOE attack, but the tanks couldn't handle another one.

"Get out of there!" Lind yelled at the players who were still in the AOE. The tanks turned and sprinted as fast as they could away from the bull. The bull came down to the ground, but the tanks were just barely out of range. "Are you ok?!" The tanks just nodded as they stood there gasping and drinking health potions. "What are you waiting for?! Get back to it!" Lind yelled at the rest of us. We charged back at the bull and gave it everything we had. We let loose sword skill after sword skill and didn't stop. The bull jumped back and started pawing the ground again, but this was different. Instead of rushing straight at the tanks, the bull ran towards the rest of us. Players were running left and right, trying to get out of the way. Most of us got out of the way, but a few players didn't. The bull got close to them and they tried to move aside to late and the bull swung it's head and sent the players flying. Luckily none of their health bars dropped to zero, but a few did go into the red zone. The players shackley got up and used health crystals before re-entering the fight. The only noise I could hear was the squeal of sword skills activating. The bull was desperately trying to hit players with it's head, but they were too fast and dodged it's every attack. Finally, the boss looked up to the sky and let out one final cry before exploding into glowing fragments. There was a deafening roar of cheering players once the shards disappeared. Lind walked up to the front of the group. "Good job everybody! With the field boss out of the way we can now enter the labyrinth! But for now, relax, go back to town, whatever. We will not be entering the labyrinth as a group however, so feel free to go whenever you feel like it!" He shouted. There was another roar of cheers as Lind and his guild walked out of the field.

"That was intense." Ryota said before taking a drink from his mug.

"Yeah, that boss got an upgrade from the one in the beta." I told him.

"At least we had a good plan and no-one died." Akane said.

"Yeah, things could have gone a lot worse." Noburo added.

"Well, cheers to another step towards clearing the game." I said as I held up my mug.

"Cheers!" The others said, clinking their mugs against mine. We drank in silence before heading to the inn. I walked up to the inn keeper.

"Do you have two available rooms?" I asked him. He was and older-looking NPC with no hair and brown eyes. He looked in the book on the counter.

"Yes, there are two rooms on the second floor that are next to each other. Is that acceptable?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you." I replied.

"May I ask your names for the room log?" He asked us.

"My name's Shigeo and this is Akane, we'll take one room." I said as I gestured toward Akane. "And he is Ryota and he's Noburo, they'll take the other room." I said as I gestured accordingly.

"Thank you very much, and here are your keys. The room numbers are on the keys, goodnight." He said to us.

"Thank you." I replied before handing Noburo his and Ryota's keys. We walked up to the second floor and stopped in front of our rooms. "Goodnight guys, see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." Akane said to the guys.

"Yeah, goodnight guys." Noburo said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Ryota added. I turned and put the key in the lock of room 212. I opened the door and Amaya and I entered the room. I walked over and turned on the light in the corner of the room. The room was your basic inn room, one bed, a couch, and spare blankets and pillows in the corner of the room. I walked over to the couch and equipped some more comfortable clothing before collapsing on the couch. Amaya walked over to the corner of the room and threw me a blanket and a pillow. I caught them.

"Thanks." I said.

"Your welcome." She replied as she turned off the light. I covered myself with the blanket and got comfortable.

"Goodnight Amaya." I said.

"Goodnight Shigeru." She replied. I rolled over, shut my eyes, and let sleep take me.

"So that's the second floor labyrinth." Ryota said. The entrance was at the end of the field where we fought the Bullbous Bow. The entrance was a mass of boulders with a gap between them, I knew from experience that the labyrinth itself is basicly just a maze made of boulders with various mobs inside. I knew better than to think that the path would be the same as in the beta, no way Kyaba would allow that if he didn't even keep the first boss the same.

"Well, let's do it." I said.

* * *

Thank you for reading ch. 11 of The Cutting Edge. It means so much to me that we've reached 1,000 views, you have no idea. Sorry this chapter is so short, I'm kind of experiencing writer's block. I'm having a hard time thinking of content, so don't expect another chapter for two or three weeks. However, I will do my best to get the ball rolling again. Again, I'm sorry, but I am doing my best. Thank you for understanding and have a great day.


	13. Taurus General Taruk

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-2**

**Shigeo's level: 15**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 15**

**Noburo-Level 14**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Eclipse (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a "Black Knight Sword" from Dark Souls, but black, more symmetrical, a more simple handguard, smaller, and a one-handed sword)  
**

**Blackout (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Rogue's Leather Armor ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Leggings ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Gloves ****(A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Rogue's Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2)**

**Shigeo's Skills:**

**One-Handed Sword- 77(always equipped)**

**Leather Equipment-58(always equipped)**

**Cooking-55(equipped ****only when cooking)**

**Straining-40****(only equipped when looking for someone or trying to hear conversations)**

**Slash Weapon Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-50(equipped only when making something)**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-35(equipped only when repairing something)**

**Searching-60(equipped when looking for something/someone)**

**Tracking-50(equipped when tracking something)**

**Night Vision-67(equipped when it is night time, unless using Hiding)**

**Hiding-55(equipped when hiding or sneaking, can replace Night Vision)**

**Acrobatics-42(equipped when in a fight with an environment around, exp. trees, rocks, etc)**

**Sprint-50(equipped when in a fight without environment, or when trying to get somewhere faster)**

**Parry-53(used instead of Sprint when fighting monsters with weapons, or fighting people)**

**Martial Arts- 53 (When expecting to have to fight without weapons for any reason.)**

**Shigeo's weapon skills(don't take slots)**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 11: Bullbous Bow

We were sitting at the table of the restaurant, waiting for the leader of the of the raid party to show up.

"We've been waiting for a half hour." Ryota said. He took a drink from his mug.

"Calm down Ryota, he'll be here." Akane told him. About that time a man wearing royal-blue cloth armor walked into the restaurant, followed by two other players wearing the same colored armor. The man who looked like the leader had blue hair and blue eyes. He was about six feet tall and was of medium build. He stopped where everyone could see him and cleared his throat.

"Attention everyone! Thank you all for coming. We all know why we're here, so let's get started. My name is Lind, and I am in charge of this party." The two other players walked down the restaurant, handing everyone a royal blue cloak. "Anyone willing to participate in this fight please accept one of these cloaks. Anyone who is not willing to help, please leave now." two players left immediately. "Now, there are some things you need to know about the boss." The players handing out cloaks got to our table and handed Ryota, Noburo, Akane, and me a royal blue cloak. "First, the boss monster is an oversized version of the trembling bull called Bullbous Bow. Is anyone here not familiar with the trembling bull? If not, raise your hand." Nobody did. "Second, the attack patterns. It has two main attacks, a running charge attack and an AOE foot-stomp. During the charge attack the bull can however swing it's head to hit players to the right and left of it. If the bull paws at the ground it means that he is about to charge. If it lifts both front legs it means it is about to perform the AOE attack. It also has a couple of secondary attacks, including a kick with one of it's back legs if a player is attacking there. It can also swing it's head at players in front of it without much of a warning. Now, the strategy. The plan is to have tanks block it's charge attack and have DPS players attacking from the sides. Absolutely no attacking from the back because of the non-telegraphed kick attack. If it raises it's front legs everyone except for the tanks are to back away immediately." We will meet at the location these two will mark on your maps." He gestured to the two players on each side of him. "We meet in the field at noon tomorrow. Dismissed!"

The others and I were in the inn talking about the plan for the next day.

"So that's it? Just stay beside it and back off when it lifts it's feet?" Noburo asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Akane replied.

"Why do they need so many people for this. It sounds so simple." Noburo told her.

"Better safe than sorry." I said. I opened the menu and swung it around so the guys could see the map. I pointed to the red dot in the middle of a field. "They have their plan, but listen up." I moved my finger to the entrance to the field. "They are going to go into the field here, and the bull will most likely charge. The tanks will block the attack and the rest will swarm the boss. But what if we enter from here…" I pointed to another entrance. "... when the boss charges we'll be right in it's path and we could be beside it the moment it reaches the rest of the group. We'll get a little bit more damage dealt before the rest even have time to react. Of course I'll tell Lind, but maybe he'll have everyone do that. I could help us." I closed the menu. "What do you think?" They looked at each other then back to me.

"I think it's a good plan, but I don't think that Lind guy will accept it." Ryota said.

"We'll see." I told him.

He didn't. I told Lind my little addition to the plan and he said that if we tried it we would pay severely. I wasn't afraid of him, but I figured I'd better not stir the pot right before a boss fight.

"Ok everyone! This is it, this is what we've been waiting for! Does everyone remember the plan!?" Lind asked. There was a roar of confirmation. "Then let's get the thing started!" There was a tremendous battle cry as the players charged into the field. We saw the bull standing there as three health bars appeared above above it's head. The bull picked its head up to look at us and its eyes shined red. "Brace yourselves!" The bull pawed at the ground and charged at us. "Tanks!" The take players ran in front of everybody else and planted their shields in front of them. The rest of us ran to the sides in case the tanks couldn't hold hold the bull. The bull slammed into the tanks and stopped dead in it's tracks. "Attack!" The rest of us charged at the bull's sides, furiously attacking it's defenceless ribs and legs. There was a deafening wail of sword skills being activated. The bull, after about a third of it's first health bar was depleted, picked up it's front legs. "Back off!" Everyone who wasn't a tank dashed out of the range of the AOE. The bull brought it's legs back to the ground, causing a huge shockwave to slide the shield-wielding tanks back a few meters. The tanks then backed off to replenish their health as the rest of us charged the bull again. Ryota was delivering devastating blows against the bull's ribs, Akane delivered fast combo attacks to the bulls legs, Noburo used strong thrust attacks to various locations on the bull, and I used stronger combo attacks to deal fast damage to the bull. We dealt considerable damage to the boss, but then it backed away and pawed at the ground. Everyone backed off except for one person who tripped over a rock in the field. The bull charged at the tanks, but that player was in the way.

"Damnit!" I said. I rushed back into the path of the bull.

"What are you doing?!" Lind yelled. "Get out of the way!" The player just laid there watching the bull come closer and closer. I reached the player as the bull was only about twenty meters from us. I grabbed his shirt and threw him out of the way. The bull was now about ten meters from me and I didn't have enough time to get out of the way, so I went towards it. When the bull was about five meters away from me I dived under it's head. The bull didn't have time to react so it went over me and got stopped by the tanks. Noburo, Akane, and Ryota ran over to me.

"Are you ok?!" Akane asked.

Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

"That was awesome, but stupid Shigeo." Ryota said.

"Well, it payed off didn't it?" I replied. "Come on, we gotta get back in the fight." We ran back over to the bull and resumed the fight. We managed to get the bull down to half of it's second health bar. So far the plan was working, but I knew that things would change soon. We repeated the plan of attack, dodge, block, repeat. The bull's life dipped into it's last health bar. It picked up it's front legs for the AOE attack. Everyone but the tanks backed away and the bull came back to the ground, making the tanks' health bars to go down about a third. Unlike before however, the bull picked it's legs up a second time. The tanks' health went down another third. The bull prepared to deliver another AOE attack, but the tanks couldn't handle another one.

"Get out of there!" Lind yelled at the players who were still in the AOE. The tanks turned and sprinted as fast as they could away from the bull. The bull came down to the ground, but the tanks were just barely out of range. "Are you ok?!" The tanks just nodded as they stood there gasping and drinking health potions. "What are you waiting for?! Get back to it!" Lind yelled at the rest of us. We charged back at the bull and gave it everything we had. We let loose sword skill after sword skill and didn't stop. The bull jumped back and started pawing the ground again, but this was different. Instead of rushing straight at the tanks, the bull ran towards the rest of us. Players were running left and right, trying to get out of the way. Most of us got out of the way, but a few players didn't. The bull got close to them and they tried to move aside to late and the bull swung it's head and sent the players flying. Luckily none of their health bars dropped to zero, but a few did go into the red zone. The players shackley got up and used health crystals before re-entering the fight. The only noise I could hear was the squeal of sword skills activating. The bull was desperately trying to hit players with it's head, but they were too fast and dodged it's every attack. Finally, the boss looked up to the sky and let out one final cry before exploding into glowing fragments. There was a deafening roar of cheering players once the shards disappeared. Lind walked up to the front of the group. "Good job everybody! With the field boss out of the way we can now enter the labyrinth! But for now, relax, go back to town, whatever. We will not be entering the labyrinth as a group however, so feel free to go whenever you feel like it!" He shouted. There was another roar of cheers as Lind and his guild walked out of the field.

"That was intense." Ryota said before taking a drink from his mug.

"Yeah, that boss got an upgrade from the one in the beta." I told him.

"At least we had a good plan and no-one died." Akane said.

"Yeah, things could have gone a lot worse." Noburo added.

"Well, cheers to another step towards clearing the game." I said as I held up my mug.

"Cheers!" The others said, clinking their mugs against mine. We drank in silence before heading to the inn. I walked up to the inn keeper.

"Do you have two available rooms?" I asked him. He was and older-looking NPC with no hair and brown eyes. He looked in the book on the counter.

"Yes, there are two rooms on the second floor that are next to each other. Is that acceptable?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you." I replied.

"May I ask your names for the room log?" He asked us.

"My name's Shigeo and this is Akane, we'll take one room." I said as I gestured toward Akane. "And he is Ryota and he's Noburo, they'll take the other room." I said as I gestured accordingly.

"Thank you very much, and here are your keys. The room numbers are on the keys, goodnight." He said to us.

"Thank you." I replied before handing Noburo his and Ryota's keys. We walked up to the second floor and stopped in front of our rooms. "Goodnight guys, see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." Akane said to the guys.

"Yeah, goodnight guys." Noburo said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Ryota added. I turned and put the key in the lock of room 212. I opened the door and Amaya and I entered the room. I walked over and turned on the light in the corner of the room. The room was your basic inn room, one bed, a couch, and spare blankets and pillows in the corner of the room. I walked over to the couch and equipped some more comfortable clothing before collapsing on the couch. Amaya walked over to the corner of the room and threw me a blanket and a pillow. I caught them.

"Thanks." I said.

"Your welcome." She replied as she turned off the light. I covered myself with the blanket and got comfortable.

"Goodnight Amaya." I said.

"Goodnight Shigeru." She replied. I rolled over, shut my eyes, and let sleep take me.

"So that's the second floor labyrinth." Ryota said. The entrance was at the end of the field where we fought the Bullbous Bow. The entrance was a mass of boulders with a gap between them, I knew from experience that the labyrinth itself is basicly just a maze made of boulders with various mobs inside. I knew better than to think that the path would be the same as in the beta, no way Kyaba would allow that if he didn't even keep the first boss the same.

"Well, let's do it." I said.

* * *

Thank you for reading ch. 11 of The Cutting Edge. It means so much to me that we've reached 1,000 views, you have no idea. Sorry this chapter is so short, I'm kind of experiencing writer's block. I'm having a hard time thinking of content, so don't expect another chapter for two or three weeks. However, I will do my best to get the ball rolling again. Again, I'm sorry, but I am doing my best. Thank you for understanding and have a great day.


	14. Floor 18

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters in The Cutting Edge. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. Please , feel free to send pictures of the characters in this story and send me OC's to keep the story flowing. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-18**

**Shigeo's level: 23**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 23**

**Noburo-Level 21**

**Akane/Amaya- Level 22**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Ghost**** Reaver (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a the Elucidator from the show but with an all black blade, no design at the base of the blade, and a dark grey handle)**

**Ghost Shard (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Reinforced Leather Armor (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Leggings (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2.**** Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced**** Leather Gloves (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Steel toed)**

**One-Handed Sword- 256**

**Leather Equipment-242**

**Cooking-187**

**Straining-212**

**Slash Weapon Forging-194**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-192**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-177**

**Searching-223**

**Tracking-204**

**Night Vision-201**

**Hiding-189**

**Acrobatics-214**

**Sprint-233**

**Parry-163**

**Martial Arts- 196**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 13: Floor 18

We sat against the massive oak tree watching birds fly above us through the leaves of surrounding trees. We had made it to floor 18 the day before and started looking for the main town. I reached down and picked up my sandwich off of the cloth wrapping that it was resting on. I made it myself, along with the sandwiches that Amaya, Noburo, and Ryota were eating. By the time we got to floor 15 I was finally able to make decent meals beside basic breads and broths. We started through this forest early this morning and found this safe area about five minutes ago. Noburo, Ryota, and Amaya were laying next to me eating their lunches. I looked back up at the sky, inspecting the bottom of the next floor. I ate the rest of my sandwich and felt something nudge my shoulder. I turned my head to see Amaya, Ryota, and Noburo looking at me.

"Come on Shigeo, time to get going." Amaya told me as she reached out a hand. I grabbed her hand and stood up, readjusting my armor. "We can't sightsee forever, we have to get to the next town while there are still Inns open." I looked in the direction of the next town then back to the way we came.

"Yeah, but this is a nice floor, I wouldn't mind camping out here." I replied matter of fact.

"If we have to we will, but I would rather not have to. There aren't a lot of safe areas around here that would feel very comfortable sleeping on." Amaya told me. "Beside, we don't have anymore supplies." I shrugged.

"Whatever, I try to get to to experience the world, and this is the reaction I get." I joked. "We'll find an inn so you don't have to sleep on something that isn't comfortable." Amaya could tell I was messing with her, but she didn't say anything. I reluctantly re equipped my weapon, adjusting it into place. "Fine, if we have to, let's get going." We walked down the hill and climbed down the stones that led to the forest floor. Floor 18 was very different from any other floor up until this point. Almost the entire floor was covered by forest and tall trees. While you could see the floor above us, you couldn't climb higher than the trees that surrounded us. The floor's mobs consisted mostly of huge praying mantises and other like creatures. It was probably one of the easier floors so far too, despite the mobs being harder. I thought it was easier solely because there was so much environment so use to your advantage. We reached the bottom of the hill and started back into the forest to the next town.

We had been walking for about ten minutes before we stumbled upon a group of players struggling with a group of slaughter mantises.

"Come on guys!" I told the rest of my group as I unsheathed my sword, _Ghost Reaver_. Akane, Ryota, and Noburo also unsheathed their weapons as we ran toward the group of players. I ran behind the closest mantis and hit it with a four-hit sword skill, causing it to stumbled away from the player it was attacking. I followed up by jumping in the air and dragging my sword down the front of the insect, causing it to disappear in a flash of glowing polygons. Akane, Noburo, and Ryota had also disposed of their mantises as I sheathed my sword and turned to the players behind me."Are you ok?" I asked the three players. The one was a boy with blue leather armor, dual daggers, about 5'8", shoulder length blonde hair, and green eyes. The second player was also a boy about the same height, short red hair, green eyes, dark blue plate armor, and a one-handed sword strapped to his hip. The third and final player was a girl, probably about 5'6", long black hair, brown eyes, light blue leather armor, and a one-handed sword strapped to her hip. The boy in the blue leather armor sheathed his sword and smiled.

"Yeah, now we are anyway. Thanks for your help." He said. I shook my head and smiled back.

"No problem." I said as I looked at the rest of the group. "So, are you guys going to be ok getting through the rest of this forest?" I asked him. He looked back at his group, thinking to himself, then he looked back at me.

"Yeah, I think we should be ok. We just have to be careful." He replied. I thought about the fact that it took him so long to answer so I wasn't sure if we was being honest or if he just didn't want to trouble us. Either way, I believed him, holding out my hand. He took it and gave it a shake.

"Nice meeting you." I told him as he nodded before I looked back at his group. "And you too." They replied in suit.

"Be safe." He told me before he let go of my hand. I smiled.

"Yeah, you too."

Later that night we were talking in a small diner in a village about halfway to the next town on our list.

"I'm just saying that maybe we should stop here and let Shigeo level up his blacksmithing skill so we have better gear before we head out." Ryota said. I shook my head and explained again to him why we shouldn't.

"No we shouldn't, the blacksmith here only has good enough equipment to upgrade the stuff we already have. Besides, we can't even do that because he doesn't have good enough materials. It would just be a waste of time." He seemed a little let down when I told him this.

"Fine, if you think that it'd be a waste of time I guess we could just keep moving, but I think that staying in one place for a while would be good for us you know?" He replied back to me. Akane reached over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"How about we can stay in one place and search there when we reach the next town?" She asked him.

"Fine, but I just think that people are getting reckless with their searches for the boss room. We've been lucky and haven't lost anybody recently, but what about that group we met in the woods?" Ryota looked around the room before continuing. "They wouldn't have made it out of that if we hadn't come along. We are the only reason we didn't lose those players today." I then realized that he was right, people have been getting less and less careful when going out of safe zones. I could tell that Akane and Noburo also realized this after Ryota brought it up. "If this keeps up we could lose players before we even get past this floor!" He whispered with implied volume. Akane didn't have anything to say to this, but surprisingly Noburo did.

"That's true, but do you really think that us staying in one place is really the best solution? We NEED to keep moving because otherwise we can't leave this world." Noburo said. When he said that Ryota visibly lowered his head a bit.

"I know that, but I just want to make sure that everyone stays alive, to get back to the real world. There could be people I care about out there and not even realize it. We could get back and realize that someone close to us didn't make-" *smack* Noburo and I physically jumped when all of a sudden Akane reached across the table and slapped Ryota in the face. She then sat back down and lowered her head, causing her hair to block her face from view. Ryota stared at her, obviously shocked about the sudden strike. Ryota looked back up at her and his expression changed from shock to anger. "What was that for!?" He shouted at Akane as she sat there looking at her lap. "Well?!" Without answering she stood up and left the dining hall and walked up to her room. "What the hell is her problem!?" Ryota asked Noburo and myself.

"Maybe Shigeo should go talk to her." Noburo said in a quiet voice, almost like he was talking to himself. My eyes widened as I looked at him.

"Nnnnnoooo, no way. I am not going up there right now." I told him. "You don't know her in real life, I do. There is no way I am going up there right now." I said while shaking my head. He looked at the table and smiled a little bit.

"Well, you'll have to eventually." He said before laughing. "After all, you are sharing a room." He managed to say before he resumed laughing. "You better wait "til she's asleep!" He in between laughs. I then stared at the ceiling, thinking about what he just said.

"Damnit." I said before standing up. Ryota looked at me.

"Where are you going?" He asked me before I left.

"It's better to deal with it now before it get's worse." I told him as I walked over to the stairs to get up to my room. I reached the room and knocked on the door. "Hey, it's me. Can I come in?" I asked Akane who was more than likely in the room. I didn't get a reply so I asked again, still nothing. I sighed. "I'm coming in." I told her before opening the door to the room. All of the lights were off and I couldn't see Akane anywhere in the room. I shut the door and lightly treaded into the darkened room. I turned on one of the lights and noticed a shadow coming from behind the bed. I walked over and Akane was sitting in the corner of the room in the fetal position. I sat down next to her in silence. She didn't make any attempt to move away, but she didn't say anything either. I leaned back against the bed that we were sitting behind. I sat there for a minute in silence, waiting for her to say something. I must have been sitting there for a good three minutes before she made any noise at all.

"Why are you up here?" She asked me with her head between her knees. "You should have just stayed down stairs with them." I sighed before I responded.

"Look, I just came up here to find out what's wrong and see if I could fix it." I told her, thinking to myself that I had made a huge mistake by coming up here. She suddenly whipped her head up to look at me.

"Well you can't ok?!" She yelled before putting her face back into hiding. I physically flinched from the sudden outburst from Akane. "Just leave me alonnee." She whimpered from her curled form. I sighed and stood up.

"Fine, if you really want to I'll go, but I will be back later just in case you decide to talk about it." I told her before walking over to the door. I went back downstairs to where Ryota and Noburo were sitting. They looked at me, but didn't say anything until I sat down. Ryota was the first to speak up.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked me as if he already knew the answer. I just shook my head in reply. "I just wish I knew what I said." He told me in a confused tone. I shrugged as I called the waitress back over, I'd be here awhile. Later that night I figured that it had been enough time for Akane to either calm down or fall asleep. When I got back to the room I saw here either sleeping on the bed or just not moving, so I decided to go to sleep myself. I'd talk to the next day.

At least that's what I thought, but when I woke up I found that she wasn't in the room. I put my armor back on and left the room, walking over to Ryota and Noburo's room. I knocked on the door but there was no answer, so I figured that they were downstairs eating, this time I was right, but Akane wasn't there either. I walked over to where Ryota and Noburo were sitting. Ryota noticed me and set his food down.

"So, how's Akane?" Ryota asked me when I got over to the table they were at.

"I was actually going to ask you if you had seen her, she wasn't in our room when I got up." I explained to him. He looked over at Noburo.

"Did you see her?" Ryota asked Noburo. Noburo shook his head. Ryota looked back at me. "Do you want some help finding her?" He asked. I shook my head.

"I'll look for her, but if she comes back then send me a message." I told him before walking out of the inn and onto the dirt road. I stepped down onto the dirt and a little bit of dust was thrown into the air around my boot. I then scrolled through my ability menu until I found what I was looking for, _Track_. I clicked the icon and my vision turned green and foot prints started glowing on the ground around me. I looked around until I found a set of footprints with the name _Akane _above them. I ran, following the green footprints. They led me out of the small town we were staying at and out into the forest surrounding it. I jumped from tree to tree to avoid the various mobs i the forest as I followed Akane's footprints. I then stopped a little ways into the forest because her footprints split into two different paths. One set went to the right and the other to the left. I tried to look ahead to see which one continued on, but I couldn't see the end of either one. I chose to go left and continued my chase through the woods. I went for about five minutes of jumping from tree to tree before the trail ended. "_Damnit Amaya!" _I thought to myself as I turned back and took the other path after the five minute trip back. After a while I noticed that the prints were getting farther and farther apart, she was trying to throw me off her trail. Eventually the footprints only showed up of the tree branches, and not very well. It took me twice as long to make the same amount of progress. I finally made it to a clearing in the woods, and in the middle I saw a single tree with a silhouetted figure on it.

"Amaya!"

* * *

**Read**

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Thank you so much for reading Ch. 13 of The Cutting edge. I am so sorry that this took so long to be released. I just haven't had any motivation recently and even less ideas, but now I'm back. I will be writing everyday, so expect a new chapter every twelve days or so. I am still open to OC requests and emails of pics for the pinterest board. My email is Borderlinefreeze . Feel free to email me at any time and I will be glad to talk to you. I want to get to know my readers more so I can get an Idea of what you guys, and girls, want. So please, email me, and I will be glad to chat.

Thank you so much, Borderlinefreeze.


	15. Player Killers

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters in The Cutting Edge. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. Please , feel free to send pictures of the characters in this story and send me OC's to keep the story flowing. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-18**

**Shigeo's level: 23**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 23**

**Noburo-Level 21**

**Akane/Amaya- Level 22**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Ghost**** Reaver (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a the Elucidator from the show but with an all black blade, no design at the base of the blade, and a dark grey handle)**

**Ghost Shard (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Reinforced Leather Armor (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Leggings (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2.**** Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced**** Leather Gloves (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Boots (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Steel toed)**

**One-Handed Sword- 256**

**Leather Equipment-242**

**Cooking-187**

**Straining-212**

**Slash Weapon Forging-194**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-192**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-177**

**Searching-223**

**Tracking-204**

**Night Vision-201**

**Hiding-189**

**Acrobatics-214**

**Sprint-233**

**Parry-163**

**Martial Arts- 196**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 14: Player Killers

"Amaya!" I shouted at the figure in the tree. She turned and looked at me. "Why did you run away?!" I asked her. She didn't say anything, so I walked over and jumped from one branch to the next until I was right below Amaya. I sat down on the branch and stared off into the forest. "I'll ask again, why did you run away?" I heard her sigh.

"I couldn't think of what to say to face Ryota after what I did last night." She replied. "It isn't like me to snap like that." That reminded me about something.

"By the way, why did you snap when he said something about something could happen without people knowing?" She let out a little sobbing noise.

"Fine, earlier that day I had heard that-" She cried a little. "-that someone I knew very well had died in a dungeon on one of the lower floors." She broke down then. "I didn't even know she were in here! I could have helped her! It's my fault that she died!" She screamed.

"Bulls**t!" I yelled. I stood up and jumped to her branch. "Listen to me, none of that was your fault! How could it be your fault that you didn't know she was in here?!" Amaya looked at me in shock at my sudden outburst. "I won't stand here and let you blame yourself for something that was out of your control!" She looked away and smiled.

"Thank you Shigeru." She said to me. "That really helped. Go on back to town, I'll meet you guys there tonight, there's something I have to do first." I wondered what she wanted to do, and to this day I'm still not sure what it was. I smiled.

"Ok, I'll see you tonight. The others and I will be waiting." I told her before jumping from branch to branch before reaching the ground. I slowly walked back in the direction of the town, looking back at Amaya a few times before the other trees blocked my view.

It took me awhile to get back to town since I wasn't in as much of a hurry as before. I followed her footsteps to get back to town. I walked through the doors of the inn and saw Ryota and Noburo sitting at their table. I walked over and sat down. A waitress was at our table before I sat down.

"Would you like something sir?" She asked me.

"No thank you." I replied. She bowed and walked away. I leaned back and let my head fall back. "Uuuuggghh."

"Did you find her?" Ryota asked. I nodded.

"I found out what's wrong with her too." I brought my head back down and looked at him. My voiced lowered. "She had a friend in here that she didn't know about and she heard someone talking about her. Her friend died and she didn't even know that she was in here. Then she blamed herself for not being able to help her." Noburo and Ryota looked at each other and back to me.

"So how is she now?" Noburo asked me. "Is she ok now?" I nodded.

"She'll be back tonight, she's ok now." I replied. "We should just go on with our day, better than waiting here all day." I stood up. "You ready?" I asked them. They nodded.

I stabbed the mantis in the back, causing it to explode into the glowing polygons. I sighed and sheathed my sword. I looked around us at the trees that have surrounded us for the past hour. We decided to look for any quest givers in the area, but to no avail. We had been looking for an hour and we hadn't found anything. Ryota and Noburo both sheathed their weapons and walked over to me. Ryota opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud yell to my right. We ran over and saw a player being surround by three others, all with orange cursors. The player in the middle against the tree was about 6' with silver light plate armor. He had forehead length silver hair and and a sword on his hip. He also had grey eyes and a small nose and lips. The first of the three other players had a brown, burlap-like cloak, a burlap hood, brown leather boots, and was holding a curved dagger. The second one had on a set of grey chainmail worked into his burlap outfit, he also had a hand axe instead of a dagger. The third player followed their trend of burlap gear, but he had a large battle axe as a weapon, and he also seemed to be the leader of the group. They all had cloth over their mouths and noses so we couldn't see their faces.

"So, what'cha doin out here all by yourself?" The first player asked as he tossed his dagger and caught it again.

"Yeah, where's the rest of your group?" The second bandit asked as he twirled his axe.

"Stop playing and finish him, the last thing we need is more people showing up." The leader said to the others. I stepped forward.

"It's a little too late for that." I said. The three orange players turned around pointed their weapons at us. I smiled. "I don't think that that would be a very good idea, we kind of outnumber you." We couldn't see their faces, but I could tell by their eyes that they were wanting to take us on, but they knew that they couldn't. The leader looked at his men before holstering his axe.

"Let's go." He told them before turning around and walking away. He turned his head to look at us. "This isn't over, remember that." He turned back and disappeared into the trees. I sighed and walked over to the guy standing by the tree.

"Are you ok?" I asked him. He nodded and sheathed his weapon.

"Thank you so much. If it weren't for you I'd be dead. How can I ever repay you?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No problem, there's no need to repay us at all." I told him. Ryota walked up beside me.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." He told him.

"But what about him?" He gestured over to where the players left. "He said that this wasn't over. He's going to go after you now." He told us. I smiled.

"I don't think that he will be a problem. Even if he gets another one of his buddies, we have another as well; we'll be fine." I assured him. "Don't worry about us." I said this, but inside I was actually terrified. It was true that we could probably take on him and his group if they come after us, but I didn't want to find out for sure. "Just be careful when you go back to town." He looked at all of us before smiling and holding out his hand.

"Thanks again for saving me. My name's Dalchi." Dalchi told me. I took his hand in mine, giving it a shake.

"No problem, and it's Shigeo by the way." I told him. Ryota walked up to my right and held out his hand.

"Ryota." He told him as Dalchi shook his hand. Noburo then walked up to my left and held his hand out.

"Noburo." He said as he shook Dalchi's hand.

"Thank you all." Dalchi said to us again.

"No problem, now be careful when you go back to town. God knows what they're planning now." I told him. He smiled and nodded as he turned and walked in the direction of town, waving to us as he went. Noburo walked up to me looking a little concerned.

"Shigeo,do you really think that we could handle those guys if they came after us? If it was a fair fight than maybe, but they didn't seem like the type of people to be looking for a fair fight." He said in a small voice. Ryota appeared next to him as well.

"I'm in the same mind set as Noburo, maybe if we had more people in our guild than I'd feel better about this situation, but we have four people and they have god knows how many. I just thought you would like to hear how we felt." I looked at a tree for a few seconds then back at Ryota and Noburo. I pursed my lips.

"Ok, we'll see what happens and if you feel like we need more people in the guild than we'll recruit. That sound alright?" I asked them. They looked at each other then at me and nodded. "Ok, we can either go back to town and chill until Amaya gets back or we can stay out here.

"We should go back, if they even have just one more guy and they decide to follow up on their threats than we could have a real hard time." Noburo said. "If we had Amaya than I'd say we could stay out, but not right now, not without her here." I nodded.

Ryota, Noburo and I sat at a table on the ground floor of the inn, waiting for Akane. We decided to go ahead and go back like Noburo said, just to be safe. We had been sitting for about when the door opened and Akane walked in. We waved and she walked over and sat down.

"How are you doing Akane?" I asked her. She smiled at me.

"Much better, thank you for everything Shigeo." She replied. Ryota tapped me on the shoulder and cleared his throat. I nodded at him because I knew what he wanted me to do. I coughed and looked at Akane.

"Listen, there's something I need to tell you." She tilted her head a little bit. "There were a group of player killers in the woods today surrounding someone." Her eyes widened as she straightened her back. "We intervened and stopped them from doing anything, but now the leader has made threats to get revenge on us for getting in their way." Akane didn't say anything, the only noises throughout the inn for a full thirty seconds were just people having conversations, completely oblivious to our own. Akane pushed some hair out of her face before clearing her throat.

"So *ghm* so um, what-what are we going to do?" She asked me in a somewhat shaken voice. "Are you worried about those guys?" I had to think for a second before answering, but that was enough time for Ryota to speak up.

"We agreed that we don't think that they will be a big deal, but we should still be on the lookout." He said. Although that was mostly true, I still had doubts. It bothered me that there was just the three of us and we knew nothing about how many they had, but it wasn't like we could go out and look for people just to have bodyguards. Nevertheless we needed to come up with a plan for if and when they come after us. It was obvious that Ryota wasn't too scared about those guys, but I could tell that Akane had about the same feeling that I did. I sat there for a minute thinking about it before I felt a hand tap my shoulder. I looked over and Ryota looking back at me.

¨Did you hear me?" He asked me. I shook my head to regain my senses.

¨No, what'd you say?¨ I replied. I looked at me with a confused expression.

¨I said that Noburo and I are going to the room.¨ He told me. I nodded.

¨Ok, have a goodnight Ryota, you too Noburo.¨ I replied. Noburo nodded as Ryota patted my shoulder. They walked to the stairs and went upstairs. I looked back at the table and just sat there in silence. Akane moved her seat closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't really believe what Ryota said do you?" What she asked was less of a question and more of a statement. She knew that I was worried about those guys coming after us just as much as she was. "What do you think we should do?" I looked away from Akane and looked at the table. I didn't know, how could I know how to react to a person basically telling me that they were going to try to kill me and my friends, it's not like it's something you hear everyday. I looked back and Akane and gave her the honest truth. "I don't know."

"Yes sir, we have Identified the guild as the Ruby Palace Raiders, there are four members at the moment." Said the leader of the group of player killers from earlier that day. "They should be no problem for a group of the same size."

"Good, hehehe." A figure shrouded in shadows replied. "We'll make them pay for getting in our way."

"Sir, we have the names of the players as well, their names are Noburo, Ryota, Akane… and Shigeo."

"Hehehe, you know what to do."

* * *

**Read**

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Thank you so much for reading Ch. 14 of The Cutting edge. Sorry that this one is a little short, I just thought this would be better than dragging it on. I am trying to improve my writing with every chapter and describing the scene around the characters and what the characters are doing during dialogue. I've said it before and I'll say it again, my email is Borderlinefreeze and I welcome you to talk to me and submit pictures for the Pinterest board, which is now also going to be an IFunny account devoted to the artwork. The IFunny account will be named "Borderlinefreez", that's without an "e" at the end.

Thank you so much, Borderlinefreeze.


	16. The Sea Chest

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters in The Cutting Edge. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. Please , feel free to send pictures of the characters in this story and send me OC's to keep the story flowing. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-18**

**Shigeo's level: 34**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 33**

**Noburo-Level 32**

**Akane/Amaya- Level 34**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Ghost**** Reaver+7 (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a the Elucidator from the show but with an all black blade, no design at the base of the blade, and a dark grey handle)**

**Ghost Shard+8 (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Reinforced Leather Armor+9 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Leggings+9 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2.**** Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced**** Leather Gloves+9 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Boots+9 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Steel toed)**

**One-Handed Sword- 297**

**Leather Equipment-273**

**Cooking-249**

**Straining-228**

**Slash Weapon Forging-231**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-231**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-226**

**Searching-248**

**Tracking-236**

**Night Vision-232**

**Hiding-241**

**Acrobatics-234**

**Sprint-259**

**Parry-192**

**Martial Arts- 235**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 15: The Sea Chest

I raised my sword just in time to stop an attack from a man dressed in all black burlap armor. Our swords collided in a shower of sparks before we both jumped back and stared at each other. I briefly looked to my right to see Ryota in his silver plate armor fending off a much faster opponent. To my left I could see Noburo fighting a player with a simple hand axe as a weapon. And right in front of me, about twenty feet away was Akane. None of them stood a chance, and I could barely keep the leader at bay. We dashed and jumped and rolled, anything to keep the deadly blades of steel of the enemy from making contact with our virtual bodies. My collided once more and with all of our strength we pushed against the other. Black leather cloak pushing against black burlap robes. Black sword against blacker axe. I was getting the upper hand until he dropped down and kicked my feet out from under me. I feel on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I looked up at the player hovering above me as he raised his axe over his head. I didn't make a sound, but I felt a sense of dread as I watched the dark blade fly towards my head. When it was about two feet away from my neck a dagger suddenly appeared out of nowhere and knocked the axe off to the side, but not out of his hands. I looked over and saw Akane running towards us with an enemy in tow. I tried to yell stop, but the leader's boot on my neck stopped me from saying anything. Akane jumped in the air and came down to stab the Pker, but was stopped by his axe. The player that Akane was originally fighting was close by now as well and I knew she couldn't handle them both. The leader and Akane were fighting and almost equally match, meanwhile player two was right behind her lifting his axe. I quickly reached down to my boot, grabbed the handle of my dagger, and threw it at the second player's face. The silver blade hit it's mark and the player disappeared in a flash of glowing polygons. But now I was out of weapons and I couldn't get the PKer's boot off of my throat. I tried to reach my blade that was just out of reach, but right before I grabbed it I saw Noburo take a direct hit to his stomach. My breathing stopped as I saw him disappear before my eyes. I grabbed my sword and was raising it up, but before it came more than a few inches off of the ground a black axe came down and severed my hand. I saw the missing appendage sit there a second before disappearing. There was nothing I could do now but lay there and try to pry the boot off that was holding me down. I looked to my right to see if Ryota could help, but I wish I hadn't. All I got was a glimpse of a black dagger getting shoved into Ryota's back before he stopped moving and disappeared. I screamed at the person responsible for Ryota's death, but no noise came out due to the boot that was getting constantly heavier and heavier on my throat. It was getting to the point that it was hard to breath, my strength was fading and Akane now had to deal with three different players at the same time and keep the one busy enough that he didn't have a chance to end me. I clawed and punched and pulled and pushed on the player's leg, but he felt like a statue and was as immovable as one. He didn't move and kept Akane at bay as though it were as easy as holding open a door. I tried my hardest to get out of the confines of the red player, but knew before it even happened that she wasn't going to be able to fend them both off. Akane held off the players using her one remaining maining dagger and her backup dagger. My vision faded as she fought them off as hard as she could, but the player on her left knocked her dagger out of her hand. She brought the other one over and slashed him across the face. He stumbled back a few feet before regaining his balance. She turned to face the other players, but it was too late. The leader's axe dragged across her chest and as the red gash appeared, her health bar dropped into the red. Her battle healing skill wasn't high enough to keep up or heal her fast enough to keep her health up. She stumbled back right into the clutches of the second player.

"Now, you've been a bad girl haven't you?" He asked in an almost inhumanly evil voice.

"Take care of her, she's caused us to much trouble." The one that was holding me down told his partner. The second and third players dragged her away to where I couldn't see. I looked up and looked at the player above me in the eye as he smiled. "You bastards have been a real pain in our sides, but that's all gonna change now isn't it?" He brought his axe up above his head. "Goodbye." He brought the axe down and my vision went black.

I shot up from the bed, panting. I would have been drenched with sweat had we been in the real world. I sat there a moment to catch my breath. I had had that dream god knows how many times and it still haunted me. Every other night I had that dream, ever since those Pkers had made their promise made. I looked around the room. We had stopped camping in the woods since the incident, just in case. We had also stopped going out in small groups, if one of us went out, all of us went. We haven't actually seen the player killers since they threatened us, but it's alway a constant pressure on our minds. I looked around the room again, checking to see if Akane was still in there. I didn't see her, so I assumed she was downstairs with the others. I seemed to be the most worried about the player killers so they always let me sleep in. I laughed a little to myself. You would think that if I was having nightmares every night that it would be hard for me to sleep, I wish. I always seemed to have that dream and get stuck, like I couldn't get out. It would start and I wouldn't wake up until it had run it's course. It was nice to get more sleep, at least it would have been if I woke up up actually feeling like I slept. I briefly wondered to myself if the others had nightmares like me. I would have asked but if they didn't then they would worry about me, and I didn't need that.

I mustered up the motivation to move and get out of plane white bed, which squeaked at the movement. I stepped down onto the soft grey carpet, which was really nothing more than wool sewn onto a leather sheet; it felt nice though. It was always nice to get out of my armor and wear normal clothes once in a while. I wiggled my toes into the virtual carpet, enjoying the soft material. I actually thought of making a new cloak using this as lining for the hood, it would have been nice. I walked over to the door, equipping my armor before leaving the room. I opened the door and stepped onto the wood floor of the hall. I turned left and made my way to the stairs that led to the ground floor of the inn. I rounded the corner and saw my friends sitting at a table with some food in front of them. I walked down the steps and made my way to their table. Akane looked over and waved I waved back. When I reached the table Akane reached over and pulled out a chair.

"Thanks." I told her. She smiled at pointed at the food on the table.

"Help yourself, there's plenty for all of us." She said. I smiled and grabbed a plate, a bowl, and some breakfast.

"So what are we going to do today?" Ryota asked, mouth full of food. I looked out the window. Floor twenty four was a lot different than the other floors we had beat so far. Floor twenty four was almost completely covered in water with numerous islands dotting the landscape, or lack thereof. The only way to get from one island to another was floating bridges linking the islands together. There were also quite a few beaches where you can swim without worrying about the mobs that spawn in the water.

"We could go to a beach and relax for today." I replied. Akane, Noburo, and Ryota smiled. "It'll be good to get our minds off of things and just relax for a change. We can go right after breakfast."

"Cannonball!" Yelled Ryota as he jumped into the water, causing a huge splash to rise into the air. The now airborne water continued to splash Akane, Noburo, and I on the sand.

"Ryota!" Akane shouted in feign annoyance. "You'll pay for that!" She yelled playfully as she ran into the water. She tackled Ryota and pretended to try to hold him under the water. I smiled, it was nice. It had been a while since I had actually smiled out of happiness and not just putting on an act for the others. It felt a lot better than constantly worrying about everything else.

"Wait for us!" I shouted, gesturing Noburo to follow me as I ran toward the water. The swimsuits that I made were perfect, and a lot easier to make than armor. The beach was nice, it had white sand that gradually sloped toward the water, a small cliff where Ryota had jumped from, some trees providing shade, and clear water. I swam out to see how deep the water got and how far I could go before I reached the point where mobs spawned. I got out about 50 yards before I even saw any monsters, let alone got into their aggro range. I put my head under the water and looked down. I could see the bottom, but it was a long way down, maybe about 100 yards down. On the bottom I could also see a chest, like the kind that you see in movies inside pirate ships. I swam back over to the others to tell them. By then Akane was laying down on a towel up on the sand, and Ryota and Noburo were enjoying the water. I walked up to Noburo and Ryota to tell them about the chest. I tapped Ryota on the shoulder. "Dude, there's totally a chest at the bottom of the ocean over here." I said as I pointed behind me. "We should get it." I said with a smile. Ryota smiled, obviously happy to join me on this little quest. We gesture to Noburo, who came walking over.

"Wanna help us get a chest from the bottom of the ocean?" Ryota asked him with a grin. Noburo smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." He replied. We swam over to where I saw the chest as quietly as we could, we all wanted to surprise Akane. When we got out to where I was we talked about a plan.

"That's too far down to just swim and grab it." Ryota said. I nodded. "So, any ideas?" He asked. Noburo and I shook our heads. "What if I used my shield to trap some air to breath on the way down and back?" Ryota asked. I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Would that work here?" I asked him.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I don't know if SAO works like that." I looked down and back up at Noburo.

"Do it." He said. Ryota opened his player menu and equipped his shield. He suddenly sank a little before coming back up.

"I might need one of you to come with me to help me get that thing back up, this isn't easy to do." Noburo looked at me.

"You should do it. You have the second highest strength and agility stats, it would probably be easiest for you two to get it back up." He said. I looked at him and smiled.

"What, afraid to go under the water that far, I get it." I teased him. He glared at me, causing me to laugh. "Alright, let's go."

We dropped the chest in front of Akane, causing her to sit up at the sudden noise.

"Where did you get that thing?!" She asked us. We smiled.

"At the bottom of the ocean." Ryota replied. She looked at the moss-covered chest then back at us.

"How?!" She questioned. Ryota held his shield up.

"We trapped air under this." He said, so proud of himself for thinking of the idea. Shigeo helped me carry this thing…" He tapped the chest with his foot. "...back up from the bottom and, walah." Akane looked at the chest in curiousness.

"So, what's in it?" She asked us.

"We don't know, we haven't opened it yet." I told her. She sighed.

"So you went to the bottom of the ocean and hauled this chest back here and you don't even know what's in it?" She asked. We nodded. She sighed again. "Well, are we going to open it?" I nodded as we crowded around the chest. I reached out and flipped the lock on the front that was keeping it shut. I slowly opened the lid as Ryota, Noburo, and Akane leaned closer. As the lid lifted a bright yellow light shone on us. When the lid was all the way open we could see what was inside.

"Holy crap!" Ryota shouted as we saw what was inside, the chest was full of Col. I reached for the gold coins and as soon as my hand touched it it disappeared and a drop menu opened in front of me.

¨Hugh!" I choked as I saw the amount of Col that I had received. Akane looked over and had the same reaction that I did.

¨That's- that's-that's three-million Col!¨ She exclaimed. ¨We could buy a house with that amount!¨ She smiled. ¨We could buy a house. We wouldn't have to camp out and eat Shigeo's cooking!¨

¨Hey!" I replied. ¨My cooking's fine and you know it!¨ I said. She waved her hand like she was shooing a fly.

¨Are you serious?!" Noburo asked. "Could we really buy a house?" Akane nodded.

"And a damn good one too." I said in dissbelief. "Wow."

"Where should we get one?" Ryota asked. I looked around at the surrounding area.

"Why not here, this is the most scenic floor we've seen so far." I replied. "What do you guys think?" They looked back at me with smiles from ear to ear.

"There it is." I said "Our home." We looked at our new home, it was a two-story house with grey-blue wood for the actual building, white window panes, and a brown door.

"Wow, it's nice." Noburo said.

"It should be for three-million Col!" Ryota replied. I clasped my hands together

"Well, let's take a look inside."

* * *

Thank you for reading Ch. 15 of The Cutting Edge, sorry this took so long, I've been sick and didn't feel like writing. However, I'm feeling better now and the next chapter is one I've been looking forward to because it will blow your minds. I have had Ch. 16 and 17 planned out in my head from the start and you will either hate me or love me in about 14 days. That is all I'm going to say because I feel that I've already given too much information. Thank you so much and please, have a good day.


	17. Miyako

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters in The Cutting Edge. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. Please , feel free to send pictures of the characters in this story and send me OC's to keep the story flowing. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-28**

**Shigeo's level: 38**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota-Level 37**

**Noburo-Level 38**

**Akane/Amaya- Level 38**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Ghost**** Reaver+10 (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon) (looks like a the Elucidator from the show but with an all black blade, no design at the base of the blade, and a dark grey handle)**

**Ghost Shard+10 (Dagger)(Emergency weapon) (looks like a simple "Dagger" from dark souls, but black)**

**Reinforced Leather Armor+10 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Leggings+10 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2.**** Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced**** Leather Gloves+10 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Chain Mail with leather around it)**

**Reinforced Leather Boots+10 (A cross between the Hard Leather Set and the Black Leather Set-Male from Dark Souls 2****. Steel toed)**

**One-Handed Sword- 432**

**Leather Equipment-421**

**Cooking-350**

**Straining-349**

**Slash Weapon Forging-370**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-370**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-362**

**Searching-346**

**Tracking-352**

**Night Vision-388**

**Hiding-347**

**Acrobatics-338**

**Sprint-361**

**Parry-294**

**Martial Arts- 312**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 16: Miyako

I jumped from branch to branch, Akane, Noburo, and Ryota were right behind me. We had ten pack wolves right behind us. We made a game out of trying to outrun the wolves without having to fight them. I tried my hardest, but Akane always ended up winning. She was the only one in the group who was faster than me, causing us to become "rivals". We jumped back down to the ground when the wolves de-aggroed and left. We collapsed by some trees, catching our breath.

"Let's take a break guys." Ryota said, panting in between his words.

"Ok fine, this as good of a place as any I suppose." Akane replied. We opened up our player menus and summoned our lunches. I sat in silence eating my food. I looked up at the trees above us, and the sky that just broke through the canopy. Floor 28, the wolf plains. The whole floor was open fields and dense forests. The most common enemy on this floor were powerful wolves, but there were about ten different kinds. Weaker ones that travel in packs, stronger ones that fly solo, and the occasional lone pack wolf that could be different than any of the ones you've met before. In this particular forest the most common type was the pack wolves. They could be in groups ranging from ten to twenty members. I always loved wolves, the way that they work together and take care of their own. I was pulled from my train of thought when I heard a sudden noise.

"Quiet." I told the others. They looked over at me in confusion. I stood up, trying to find the source of the noise. I heard another one so I turned towards it, only to be hit in the shoulder with a throwing pick. I suddenly felt my body go limp as I fell to the ground in a heap. I looked at my health bar and saw the yellow lightning bolt next to it signaling that I had been paralyzed. "Guys, be careful!" I shouted at the others as they drew their weapons. Three players came out from the bushes. I struggled to looked over and see who it was, and when I saw them I was filled with both anger and a feeling of helplessness. However, there was no surprise in the air as of to whom it was. It was the same group that we crossed paths with back on floor 18. Even though their black cloaks didn't show anything other than their hands, there was no dought.

"Well well well, look what we have here." Said the shortest of the bunch. "A couple of flies in need of a swatin'." He said in a crazed, twisted tone.

"Did you think that you were safe after not hearing from us for ten floors?" Asked the second tallest. "Well, no such luck I'm afraid!" He said. The leader held up his hand in a gesture telling his men to silence themselves.

"You got in our way, and we don't like that very much." The leader had the most sane voice of the group, but he was the most dangerous. "You see, the boss doesn't like obstacles, no matter how small. In turn, it's our job to take care of those obstacles. Of course, not until after we take care of the main objective, who I believe you saved, well at least the first time." Akane, Noburo, and Ryota gasped audibly at this statement.

"You hunted him down didn't you?!" Akane yelled. "Why do you monsters get your kicks out of killing and terrorizing other players?!" The shortest of the group laughed.

"Why do you think you stupid b**ch?! Because it's fun! How else would we keep balance in this place?!" The short one replied.

"You people are crazy!" Ryota replied. "There would be less chaos if you people didn't exist!" I struggled to turn my head and look at the throwing pick in my shoulder. I raised a quivering arm up to pull it out, but I only got it about halfway up before I went limp again.

"Guys, run." I wheezed at my friends. They looked over with a mix of anger and confusion on their faces.

"And just leave you here?!" Noburo yelled, surprising me at his unusual loudness. "Not a chance in hell!" He pointed his spear at the red players. "If you want to get to my friends then you'll have to go through me!" Ryota stood in front of him.

"Not unless you can get through me!" He shouted. Akane then stood in front of him.

"But before you get to any of them, you'll have to try your luck with me." She said. All three of the red players burst into laughter.

"You-you think that you can fight us?!" The second player said in hysterics. "We've fought how many players, and how many have _you _fought exactly?" Akane, Ryota, and Noburo visibly flinched at this, but they didn't back down.

"It doesn't matter, we'll defend Shigeo, no matter the cost!" She shouted as she rushed forward with Ryota and Noburo in tow. The red players drew their weapons and rushed toward my friends.

They collided in a shower of sparks as Noburo fought the shortest one with the dagger, Ryota bashed right into the one with the crude wood axe, and Akane feuded with the boss wielding a black battle axe. I watched in both horror and suspense, because for the moment my friends seemed to have the advantage. However, I didn't know if any of them had it in them to finish the red players. But I knew that if I could manage to get up and fight that this would be a short confrontation. I struggled to move my numb body and reach the pick in my shoulder, but the paralyzing toxins were far too strong, hell, I could barely move my head enough to follow what was happening. Initially Noburo had the advantage because the reach of his spear kept the other player at bay, but he was a lot slower in combat than the dagger wielder. In Ryota's case it was a battle of strength, and neither one seemed to have a distinct advantage. Akane was the one I was worried about the most. She was just barely faster than the leader and his weapon was heavier than hers and he could knock hers out of her hands very easily. Noburo stabbed with his spear, but the red player side-stepped and kicked Noburo's spear off to the side. He then charged at Noburo with a glowing red blade and sheathed the weapon in Noburo's stomach. Noburo's health dropped into the yellow zone as he jumped back and picked up his spear. I looked over at Ryota just as he pushed the red player away, but then the PK'er jumped back in and raked a blue axe across Ryota's chest. Ryota stumbled backward before steadying himself as his health dropped to right above the yellow zone. I looked over at Akane then and saw her lock weapons with the red player and struggle against him. The player pushed her back, but she retaliated with a slash across his right leg, left wrist, and stomach. I felt uneasy, Akane was winning, but Ryota and Noburo needed help. I remembered the antidote crystals in my quick inventory and tried to reach one. I got a hold of the green crystal and was about to use it, but a throwing pick hit it out of my hand. My eyes darted over to where the pick came from, and I saw the player Noburo was fighting in the frozen position of a player who had just thrown something. Noburo saw this as well and used the opportunity to get a solid hit on the PK'er. This knocked him to the ground and Noburo got another hit on his leg. I felt some condolence, that was until I saw the fight Ryota was fighting. The player threw a pick at Ryota's leg, and while not paralyzing him, it did cause him to stop for a split second. The player then used that moment of pause to swing at Ryota and knock him down, causing his health to fall into the red zone. I looked over at Akane to see if she could help him, but what I saw made my blood run cold. Akane was stumbling back and got caught with a blow to the torso, causing her health to go red. No matter where I looked, all I could see is my friends with red health fighting players who were much more experienced at killing.

"Guys, please run." I wheezed. "Forget about me, just save yourselves."

"No." Akane said. "If we run now and leave you, I wouldn't be able to keep living anyway. I would never forgive myself." I shook my head.

"Same here, there would be no forgiving an act of cowardness like that." Noburo said.

"We will kill these guys, and we will survive." Ryota finished.

"That's cute, but unfortunately, that isn't going to happen!" The dagger wielding player yelled as he charged at Noburo. Time seemed to come to a standstill as the red dagger was embedded into Noburo's stomach. Noburo shuddered for a second before shattering into multi-colored polygons. I felt like throwing up, I couldn't believe that Noburo was just gone. However, that wasn't the only horror I bare witness to. It was like a scene from a movie, but this was real life. Ryota got pushed into a tree and impaled before he had time to retaliate. Akane was the only friend that I still had alive. She was quickly surrounded and overwhelmed in a matter of moments. The leader caught her with a powerful strike to the torso and she started shuddering. She looked over at me.

"I'm sorry, Shigeru." She said before she vanished before my eyes. My vision quickly became blurry as tears filled my eyes.

"You motherf***ers! I'll kill you!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "I'll make you wish you were never born!" This outburst was only greeted with a boot to the face.

"Now now now, just pipe down, we wouldn't want anyone interfering with our little game now would we?" The second tallest one said in a twisted, evil tone. ¨The only question now is, what do we do with you? Use you for target practice? Chop off your limbs and leave you to bleed out? What to do, what to do~.¨ The leader lifted his boot off of my face.

¨Leave him for the wolves.¨ He told the others. ¨Give him another pick while you're at it, we don't want him getting away." He walked away as the shortest one stuck another pick in my thigh and followed after his boss. A few seconds passed and they were gone, just like that. They showed up out of nowhere and a few minutes later my friends were gone and I was going to follow them.

"_Whatever." _I thought. "_There was no more reason to keep on fighting anyway. All my friends had just been slaughtered in front of me and for some reason or another I get to live for a few extra agonizing minutes." _I closed my eyes, I had given up. I opened them however when I heard the sound of leaves crunching. I thought that maybe, just maybe I had been saved, but that feeling was soon crushed as well. When my eyes opened the thing in front of me was not a player, but a big grey wolf. In any other circumstances, it would have been beautiful. Tall, but not scrawny, long black fur with a streak of lighter grey going down it's back, and glistening white fangs.

"So, you're going to be the one to finish me off huh?" I asked the sleek black figure walking towards me. "Just make it quick." However, the wolf started sniffing and walked over to where my sandwich was still laying. The wolf smelled it for a second before quickly devouring the food. "What the?" I asked myself as the cursor above the wolf turned from red to orange. "_What does that mean?" _The wolf turned back towards me and started walking. It stoped when it's face was mere inches away from my own. I stared back right into the wolf's eyes, and it into mine. Eventually the wolf lowered it's head and to my surprise started licking the pick lodged in my shoulder. The pick then fell out and wolf made it's way down to my leg and repeated the process. Immediately the paralysis ended and I was able to move again. I sat up, but did not attempt to make any sudden movements. I looked at the wolf as it peacefully looked back at me and panted before cocking it's head like a confused child. I slowly reached a closed fist out toward the virtual animal. It smelled my hand for a second before touching it's forehead against it. At that moment a window appeared in front of me.

"**Claim this animal as your own?" **I blinked a few times at that.

"_Claim it as my own?" _I wondered to myself. "_But how?"_ I clicked the blue "O" to accept. The orange cursor turned green and another window appeared in front of me.

"**Please enter name." **It said with a small pink symbol next to the text box signaling that it was female. I clicked the text box and slowly entered Amaya into the box. However, I quickly changed the name to Miyako.

"_I can't replace Amaya, or either of the others either." I thought to myself. "Noburo, Ryota, Amaya, I will avenge you." _I looked at Miyako. "Come on Miyako, we have something we need to do. I pulled out a teleport crystal and put my hand on Miyako's head. "Teleport…"

I looked at the entrance to the blacksmith shop. I walked in and saw the girl standing at the counter.

"Hello sir, and welcome to-" I cut her off.

"Sorry, but I need to use your shop."

I crouched in the tree, getting a feel for this new armor. It consisted of padded chainmail, chainmail sandwiched between two pieces of leather with armor plates on my elbows, knees, and shoulders with wolf fur sticking out of them, steel toed boots, and a black-grey cloak that wrapped around my body with a hood over my head lined with wolf fur. I reached to my back where my new sword rested. It was a simple tool with a grey blade, simple handguard and handle, and wolf fur on the pommel and handguard. Finally I reached down to my boot where I had a dagger, Akane, no, Amaya's dagger. It was a silver dagger with a black handle. I grabbed my cloak and wrapped it around me again as to not be seen. I heard a noise and looked over at the location it came from.

"_There you are!" _I screamed in my head. I had found them! The sons-of-bi**hes who had killed my friends! "_I'll kill you motherf****rs!"_

"_I'LL KILL YOU!"_

* * *

IMPORTANT!

Thank you so much for reading ch. 16 of The Cutting Edge. I had this chapter planed out from the get-go so i hope you liked it, or hate me for it now. Sorry that this took so long, but my Grandpa has been in the hospital for back surgery and complications afterwards, but he is alright now and i can continue to write. I do need help from here on out though because I don't have much material now so I need some OC submissions from you guys, and girls. That will be all, and as always, thank you for your continued support.

With love,

Borderlinefreeze


	18. Lone Wolf

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Please read!**

**Feel free to offer OC's and send me pictures you have drawn of the characters in The Cutting Edge. Like I said, every and all pictures will be uploaded to the pinterest board, and I need Oc's to keep uploading on a regular basis. Just when you suggest OC's, make sure to include the role you want them to play, and all the details about them. Please , feel free to send pictures of the characters in this story and send me OC's to keep the story flowing. If you want to see the Pinterest board, look up the username BorderlineFrz on Pinterest. My email is Borderlinefreeze by the way. Thank you to all who read this.**

**Current floor: 1-28**

**Shigeo's level: 38**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota- Deceased**

**Noburo- Deceased**

**Akane/Amaya- Deceased**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Vendetta**** (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon)**

**Crisscross (Dagger)(Emergency weapon)**

**Torso: Cloak of Vengeful Souls**

**Arms: Silent Leather ****Arm-wraps**

**Gloves: Hollow Padded Gloves**

**Legs: ****Leg-guards**** of Timeless Comrades**

**Boots: Leather guard of the fallen**

**One-Handed Sword- 432**

**Leather Equipment-421**

**Cooking-350**

**Straining-349**

**Slash Weapon Forging-370**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-370**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-362**

**Searching-346**

**Tracking-352**

**Night Vision-388**

**Hiding-347**

**Acrobatics-338**

**Sprint-361**

**Parry-294**

**Martial Arts- 312**

**Familiar Communication- 125**

**Beast Tamer**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 17: Lone Wolf

"_I'll kill you!" _I waited just until the bastards were about ten feet away from the tree I was in before jumping down in front of them. I don't know exactly what they saw, but I can imagine that I was just a black blur with red eyes (due to my active tracking ability) that came out of nowhere and landed in front of them, my black cloak completely concealing everything but my eyes. I know I scared them because they back stepped and turned around, only to see about ten red eyed, black wolves snarling and growling at them. I grinned to myself as I thought back to when I claimed Miyako as my own. I got a few extra skills added to my collection, **Beast Tamer** and **Familiar Communication**. On top of that, Miyako had a couple of her own. The first was **Pack Leader**, which allowed Miyako to take control of wild wolves and command them for a period of time. The second was **Animal Senses**, this gave Miyako the ability to track down a player more accurately than my own tracking ability. Last but not least, **Bestial snarl**, even though Miyako is relatively weak in a fight, this ability allows her to intimidate a player or a group of players. All of which would come in handy here. I hate to admit it, but these bastards did have me out numbered, and if they were frightened then I would have a little less of a disadvantage. They reached for their weapons, unsheathing them almost in unison. It seemed like even though they were afraid they wouldn't go without a fight. I reached behind me and pulled out the intimidatingly simple form of a straight sword, all in a dramatically slow fashion. The best part was their faces, the sheer look of fear and confusion. They must think that I was insane for showing up alone with no backup other than some weak wolves. It was also clear that they didn't know who I was yet.

"B-boss? Wh-who is this guy?" Asked the one with the dagger who killed Noburo. The leader didn't reply at all, not a sound.

"B-boss?!" Exclaimed the one with the hand axe who murdered Ryota. The boss finally answered.

"How should I know!?" He yelled before turning to me. "Well, are you going to answer them?" He asked in an annoyed, but not at all frightened tone, unlike his lackeys.

"You should know me well, considering what you did yesterday." I said, trying to keep my voice as flat as I could, despite every fiber screaming at me to shout and attack them. The lackeys then were less frightened and more confused when they heard what I said.

"Wait, you're that kid that we didn't off?!" The one with the dagger said before bursting into laughter. "Are you f***ing insane?!" He managed to spit out before resuming his fit.

"Boy I thought you were crazy but I didn't think you had a death wish!" The other lackie exclaimed. "We took out your friends when it was an even fight, and you came to get revenge by yourself?!" He too started laughing when he finished his mocking. He didn't laugh for long however because a second after he started he was cut off by a red gash appearing on his ribcage. He looked down at the red framework before looking up to where I had been crouching, only to see it barren. It was at that moment that the man had stopped joking and looked behind him, only to see me in the aftermath of a sword-skill. I turned around slowly, just to see the stupid look on his face, a mix of fear and rage. He started to charge me but his boss held a hand out in front of him.

"Stop." He said to him before looking at me. "Look kid, you're pushing your luck here, if you were smart you would have taken the opportunity to go to a safe zone and never leave. Instead, you decided to follow us and try to intimidate us. I thought you were smarter kid, I really did, but it seems like morons just don't know what's best for them." It was then that he lowered his hand and gestured at me. "End him." I turned my head slightly to see Miyako and the other wolves.

"Get." I said calmly. Miyako slowly turned, taking the other wolves and left the area. I turned back just as the two lackies charged me. I stood perfectly still, not moving a muscle, until the one with the axe was right in front of me. It happened so fast I'm not sure they knew what happened. I rolled under the one with the axe and at the same time kicked him into the tree behind me. I then used the momentum that gave me to launch myself at the lackie with the dagger and slash across his stomach with a purple glowing blade. The one I kicked turned around with obvious fury and brandished his weapon. The one I cut backed up to where his partner was to recover from the attack. They then charged at me for a second time. When the one with the axe reached me this time I ducked under his attack and cut him from his left shoulder to his right hip. I then turned and dodged the dagger in the other's hand and cut him from his chest to his back, his momentum carrying him over to his partner. My cloak settled back into place once my spin came to a halt. The red framework of their avatars faded and disappeared as they stared at me in disbelief.

"Enough!" The leader shouted from behind me. "You idiots can't do anything right!" He then looked at me. "You think you're hot s**t because you can fight these two? Think again." He then unhooked his axe from his right thigh. "Now you idiots, follow my lead." He then charged me from behind as his two lackies charged from the front. When they were close I ducked and spun in a circle, striking them all in the stomachs then rolled out from in between them. I stood up and turned just in time to feel a fist meet my face and knock me back, throwing off my hood. "That's better kid, now I can remember the look on your face when you realize what you've gotten yourself into." I readjusted my grip on my sword before preparing for the next attack. The leader didn't move, but the two others spread out, surrounding me. They then converged on me, ready to kill. I deflected the leader's axe with my sword, the lackies axe with my arm, and let my shoulder armor take the hit from the dagger. I kicked the one with the dagger away from me, punched the lackey with the axe in the face, and brought my sword across the chest of the leader. I bought myself maybe two seconds before they attacked again. It took all I had to block and dodge the attacks coming from three different directions, let alone attack back. I took more hits than I landed, and at this rate I knew I would lose. I finally jumped up, striking the two lackies with my sword and getting out from the triangle they created. I landed about six feet away from them, just far enough to get a little bit of a break. I looked at my health bar, it was just in the yellow. Meanwhile, they were all still in the green, except for the one with the dagger. I reached into my quick access bag and pull out a health gem. The crystal exploded, instantly restoring my health. The one holding the dagger did the same. At this rate I knew I couldn't win, I needed to do something. I opened my player menu and went to the skills section.

"What's wrong kid, there's nothing in there that'll save you." The leader mocked. I ignored him and clicked on a skill...

I sat next to Miyako, having just gained control of her, and scrolled through my skills. I re-read the skills about Miyako, but I also noticed a new one. I read the description. "_Exponentially increases the offensive attributes of the user."_. I didn't recognize the skill from any info-broker's skill list.

"It's probably nothing special, just a little attack buff." I said to myself "I'll use it if I have to, but it doesn't seem like anything that would save my life."

I scrolled down the list until I found the skill I was looking at yesterday and I clicked the name, The Cutting Edge. My menu disappeared as dark shadowy mist flowed off my body. I gathered myself as I prepared to charge. I rushed towards them, my blade glowing dark red, and landed a clean cut on each of them. I came to a sliding stop and froze, I had no idea how I did that in such a short amount of time. I turned around to see them all thoroughly confused. They looked at me with fear and caution. I looked down at the dark purple-black mist wafting off my armor then looked up at them and smiled, an evil, twisted expression. I readied my sword again before jumping up into a tree, causing them to turn their heads to follow my movement. I then jumped from tree to tree in circles around them at top speed. I then jumped at the lackie with the axe and created a sizable gash in his back. I then spun around and did the same to the ribs off the one with the dagger. The leader tried to retaliate, but I jumped back out of the reach of his weapon.

"It's my turn." I said in a flat monotone before charging at them once more, this time with a silver blade. I landed a three-hit combo on the lackie with the axe before they could do anything. The one with the dagger then tried to stab me in the back, but I grabbed his arm with my left and and pulled him into my blade, impaling him. I then kicked him off my sword as the leader tried to swing his axe at my right arm. I back-stepped out of the way and brought my weapon across his diaphragm before dashing away from the three of them. The red marks on them faded as my cloak settled back into place. The one with the dagger was now incredibly close to losing the last of his health. He franticly tried to find a health crystal. He pulled one out but before he could use it I dashed past him and grabbed the crystal before throwing it against a tree. The gem instantly shattered and the player's expression was one of complete dread. "I said it was my turn, you didn't allow my friends to use crystals, so why should I let you?" I asked him. "What? Can't play your own game?" He dropped his dagger on the ground.

"Please, just let me go, I'll never PK aga-" He managed to spit out before he was cut off by my blade stopping an inch from his throat.

"Should have thought about that yesterday." I whispered in a sour tone before I brought my sword back.

"No! Plea-" He sputtered as I brought my sword straight through his stomach. His avatar went limp and flashed a few times before shattering into a hundred multicolored polygons which preceded to slowly float down to the ground and disappear. I slowly turned to look at the two still alive. I looked down at my weapon then back up at them.

"You know, I've never used anything like this on a real person, then again, I've never used one made to kill someone before now either. So your partner should feel honored, he was the first to fall to this sword." The two remaining players looked at me with a mix of anger and complete and utter fear. "So, who's next?" The lackie rushed at me while yelling something I couldn't understand the rage was so heavy. I smiled. "I guess we have a volunteer." I caught the curve of the blade with my sword once he swung and twisted it out of his hand. The axe flew through the air and embedded itself in a tree. My sword glew blood-red and I executed a five hit combo on the remaining lackie, bring his health down to a sliver. I held my sword out straight and looked him in the eye. "That, was a mistake." I said as I spun in a circle and brought my sword diagonally down his chest and stomach. His avatar also shattered into polygons. The leader looked at me with nothing but fear.

"What are you?" He asked me. I put my hood back up, covering my face.

"The lone wolf that you let live." I calmly replied. He readied his weapon.

"Well I'm not going down without a fight!" He shouted, more to himself than to me.

"Good, it makes it more interesting." I replied as I sheathed my sword and drew my dagger. I then held it up. "Remember this?" I asked.

"I do." He replied. "It's the dagger your friend was using." So that's what you're going to use to fight me?" I nodded. "Then may the best man win." I opened my skill list and de-activated _The Cutting Edge_.

"He will." I replied before charging him. Sparks flew as our steel collided with incredible speed and force. We broke away from our entanglement for a brief second before charging at each other again. I slid between his legs and landed a few shallow cuts along his back and thighs before he spun around, aiming for my neck. I deflected it with Akane's dagger, but it though me off balance, allowing him to land a solid strike on my left bicep. I rolled backwards away from him to make sure I didn't take another hit. I was faster, but he hit harder. We circled around each other for a second, planning our next moves. The next second he reached down to his hip and threw three throwing picks at me. I was barely able to dodge them in time, but he used the picks as a distraction to close the distance and swing his axe straight down at my head. I held up Akane's dagger with both arms to stop the heavy steel blade falling toward my head. The blade of the dagger caught the one-handed axe right under the straight black blade. I dropped to my knee from the crouched stance I was in after dodging the picks and held my arms above my head. It took all my strength to keep the heavy blade from finishing it's deadly arc.

"Well kid, it looks like this is where you die." He said in a wicked and mocking tone. "It also looks like the best man won." He grinned after that last sentence.

"You're right, he did." I dropped my arms and rolled to the right, allowing the axe to embed itself deep into my leg. I pulled my leg away and delivered one quick cut to his ankle, knee, and thigh, causing him to drop to his knee. He spun around, trying to catch me with his axe, but I was already on the move. I dashed over to his right side and got another five cuts on his back, side, and chest. His health dropped just above the red zone. He stood back up and held charged me in a rage with his axe raised. I ducked under the attack and used a six-hit sword skill to lower his health to just above zero. I then held the blade up to his throat from behind his back.

"This is impossible! We are laughing coffin, you can't beat us! You're just scum, and so were your friends! What make you think you ca-" I cut him off by pressing my blade to his throat.

"Your first mistake was thinking you were invisible, your second mistake was taking my friends away from me, and your last mistake was not hiding from me in a dark room covered in your own piss." I told him with all the hate I could muster. "Those were your actions, and now you will face the consequences." Before I finished him off however, a bright blue light appeared in front of us. A player in formal attire stepped out of the fading light.

"Boss! You came to sa-" The last red player tried to say something but couldn't because my blade had already opened a deep gash in his throat. I stepped back as he exploded into colorful shards.

"Did you really need to do that?" The man asked me. "We could have settled this like gentlemen."

"Did he say you were his boss?" I asked him. "Did you order him to murder my friends?!" I sheathed my dagger and drew my sword."

"Now now, sure I did but can't we talk about this, besides, I'm a green player so if you hurt me then you'll be red yourse-" In the blink of an eye I was in front of him with my sword on his neck.

"After what you had done to my friends I couldn't give a damn less what color I am."

"If you hurt me then Laughing coffin will have a hit out for you." He replied. "You won't be safe anywhere ever again."

"I'll take that chance." I said before depriving his shoulders of his head. He disappeared as I sheathed my sword. I looked at my health bar as my player state turned from green to red, marking me as one of these monsters. Laughing coffin would be after me now.

Let them come.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading Ch. 17 of The Cutting Edge. I'm sorry I haven't been uploading, I lost the motivation to write over the summer and I'm really busy this year in school. I will try to write as often as possible and upload more often, but it may be time-consuming work. Anyway, thanks again for reading and showing your support.

\- Borderlinefreeze


	19. Lupus Umbra

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Any and all suggestions/questions please email Borderlinefreeze , thank you.**

**Current floor: 1-29**

**Shigeo's level: 39**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota- Deceased**

**Noburo- Deceased**

**Akane/Amaya- Deceased**

**Argo- Info Broker**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Vendetta**** (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon)**

**Crisscross (Dagger)(Emergency weapon)**

**Torso: Cloak of Vengeful Souls**

**Arms: Silent Leather ****Arm-wraps**

**Gloves: Hollow Padded Gloves**

**Legs: ****Leg-guards**** of Timeless Comrades**

**Boots: Leather guard of the fallen**

**One-Handed Sword- 432**

**Leather Equipment-421**

**Cooking-350**

**Straining-349**

**Slash Weapon Forging-370**

**Light Metal Armor Forging-370**

**Metal Equipment Repairing-362**

**Searching-346**

**Tracking-352**

**Night Vision-388**

**Hiding-347**

**Acrobatics-338**

**Sprint-361**

**Parry-294**

**Martial Arts- 312**

**Familiar Communication- 125**

**Beast Tamer**

**Shigeo's weapon skills**

**One-Handed Straight Sword**

**One-Handed Dagger**

* * *

Ch. 18: Lupus Umbra

I sprung from my slumber, hand immediately gasping the hilt of my sword which lay at my side. I scanned the surrounding area, looking for the source of the noise. I caught sight of a lone squirrel climbing a tree surrounded by dry shrubs. My arm relaxed as I released my weapon before laying back down. I turned my head to see Miyako's face just a few inches from mine. There's no doubt she heard the noise before I did and determined it to not be a threat. Through the canopy of the trees that populated floor 29 I could see that the morning was just beginning to shed the darkness of night to be replaced by sunlight. It had been a week since the incident, and yet Laughing Coffin hasn't come after me. I still went out and leveled up like I used to, but it was a little more work by myself, and a lot more lonely. I thought about trying to find a group to join, but I doubt anyone would believe me that I turned red from offing a green Laughing Coffin member. No, the only one who would trust me to be near them for any amount of time now was Miyako. I still needed a better way to gain Col and XP however, being solo was alright for now, but it wouldn't work forever. I looked back at Miyako.

"What should we do girl?" I asked her as I pet her head, causing her to close her crimson eyes and push her head into my hand. I smiled, without Miyako, I don't think I could have kept my sanity. I sat up and stretched. "Well, let's go." I stood up and equipped my armor. I noticed that my food and crystal supply was really low. "Great, how am I supposed to get into town without people noticing my status? Never mind going into a shop without having every player in the town on my tail." I turned and picked up my sleeping roll, storing it in my inventory. I positioned my sword on my back and fastened Amaya's dagger to the side of my shin. I flipped my hood up and started off towards town.

I waited outside the main entrance to the town in a tree, hidden from view. I waited for about an hour before I saw a lone player coming towards the entrance. I stained to see them clearly however, as I was too far away. As the player came closer I could make out a brown cloak and auburn hair. I had to make sure I wasn't seeing things, but I saw what looked like whiskers on the player's face, who also happened to be a short girl. I waited until she got closer before I concluded who she was, Argo. She was about 25 feet from where I was hiding when I jumped out of the tree in front of her. I must have caught her off-guard because she let out a small gasp and reached for her claws, which were hanging on her left hip.

"Who are you?!" She asked me, her nasal flare very audible. There was no doubt she noticed my red status. I stood up and flipped my hood off of my head, revealing my face. "Shigeo?!"

"Hi argo." I replied. "Long time no see." I tried to cover up the somberness of my tone.

"Why are you a red player? What happened Shigeo?" She asked me, the fear in her voice completely gone now.

"That's how you react to seeing your friend after all this time with a red player status?" I let out a short laugh. "Glad to see you haven't changed at all." She grinned.

"And I'm happy that you're ok as well, but again, why are you a red player?" A touch of impatience creeping into her voice. "Tell me Shigeo." I sighed, I didn't want to recall what happened again, but it seemed like she wouldn't let this go.

"Fine, I'll tell you."

She listen to what I said without making a single noise or interrupting one time, and I couldn't tell if she believed me or not.

"Please Argo, you have to believe me." I pleaded. "I need your help." She looked me straight in the eye before looking away and sighing.

"Shigeo, I'm so sorry for your loss, and I believe you." She finally replied. "I've heard stories like yours before which turned out to be attempts to get me to trust red players before, so I apologize for not believing you right away." I shook my head.

"It's fine, I would be careful in your position as well."

"So what do you need my help for?" She asked me.

"I need supplies from the shop here, but I don't dare show my face in this large of a town." I explained. "I need someone to get the supplies for me, that's why I need your help. I can trust you, and you won't come back with ten Aincrad Liberation members." She looked at me for a second.

"Ok fine, I can do that."

"Thank you so much Argo, here." I handed her a pouch of Col. "That has enough for the supplies and some left over for you to keep."

"Shigeo, you know how much I like money, but you need this more than I do." I shook my head.

"If you feel like that, then there's one more thing I would like you to do."

"What?"

"I'll tell you when you get back." I handed her a list of the things I needed from town, she nodded before walking past me and through the sizable gate. I went into the woods and found a place to stay until she got back. Miyako came out of the brush as well and laid down next to me, resting her head on my lap. About 20 minutes passed before I heard Argo coming from the town. I stepped out of the trees as she got closer.

"Here you go Shigeo." She said as she started a trade request with me. I accepted the trade and the items were transferred to my inventory. "Now, what else did you need?" I lost my smile and immediately took on a serious disposition.

"I need your help to spread the word of a player that will take payment to be a bodyguard, escort, or a free red hunter."

"What do you mean by free red hunter?"

"I need you to spread the word that Lupus Umbra will pursue leads on red players, for free, on top of the other things."

"Lupus Umbra?"

"It means wolf's shadow in latin."

"Shigeo, do you know what you're saying?" She asked me, a bit of fear creeping into her voice.

"Yes I do. I need you to tell people that if they can provide a lead on the location of a red player, no matter the reason, I will pursue them for free. And to spread the word that I can be contacted by sending a message to my player ID which they can get from info brokers, and of course spread my contact info to the other info brokers. Can you do that?" I asked her.

"You know I can, but are you sure this is something you want me to do?" Her voice urging caution.

"Yes, I am." I replied.

"Ok, I'll spread the word."

"Thank you, goodbye Argo." I said before disappearing into the trees and heavy underbrush.

I looked through the supplies that Argo had picked up for me. Food for Miyako and myself, new bedding, cloth and leather for repairing my armor, a small wood and bristle brush for Miyako, several containers for water, and a marbled red whetstone and oil for my sword, not as quick as a blacksmith's sharpening wheel, but it'd work. I nodded in approval and closed the menu. I looked down at Miyako, who was laying on her back in the sun and nudged her with my foot.

"Let's go."

My sword made a metallic clanging noise as the arm of a treant crashed into it. I struggled to push the wooden limb away from me. With a groan of effort I slipped out from under the arm and rolled through the monster's legs, slashing at both cylinders of wood and moss with a fluorescent cyan blade. The treant made a loud, deep, whale-like noise before falling to a knee. I jumped up on it's back and run to the top of it's "head". I jumped into the air and plunged a neon-red blade into it. It let out one final groan before shaking and exploding into rainbow-colored polygonal shards. I fell to the ground and Miyako appeared at my side when I straightened my back. I reached down and pet her head, causing her to push her head into my hand. I sheathed my weapon. I looked around. There was a clear patch of wood that was missing trees, or what appeared to be. In reality there were four treants laying dormant before ambushing me. I let out a sigh and went on my way. I gave Argo the information to spread the day before and I hadn't gotten a job offer yet, so I didn't have much to do. Of course, there was always the constant thought at the back of my mind telling me that Laughing Coffin could come after me at any moment, so I was always on guard. It had been a few days since I killed the floor leader of Laughing Coffin, but they hadn't shown their face yet. I wondered if it was because they were afraid, didn't have enough leadership to organize a revenge party, or whatever. All I knew is that they would show up eventually, so I was waiting for someone to either contact me for a job offer or to give me a lead on a red player. No doubt the reason nobody contacted me yet was because I was a red player myself. I walked for a bit, fighting anything that got in my way. In the distance I saw a town, and outside it stood the Aincrad Liberation Army. I quickly hid out of sight. The Aincrad Liberation Army, the biggest guild in SAO just ahead of the Knights of the Blood Oath, a group sworn to clear floors as fast as possible, and to take out any red players they found. I knew that if I tried to go around the town now, I'd be found immediately. I decided to wait where I was and wait for them to leave. It wasn't long however until Miyako started to growl and back up to me. I instinctively whipped around and reached for the hilt of my sword, ready to fight. However, when I turned around I saw about a dozen ALA members standing with their weapons at the ready.

"Stand down!" The leader yelled at me. "Let go of the sword!" I looked at the group of guild members in front of me, all heavily armed and armored. I slowly let go of my sword and stood up straight, Miyako still growling and snarling.

"Down Miyako." I said, causing her to stop growling and sit down next to me.

"What do you think you're doing spying on our forces red player?" The leader snarled.

"I wasn't spying on them, I was waiting for them to leave." I replied in a flat monotone. The leader didn't seem impressed.

"Why? Didn't want us to see your red marker?"

"Something like that." He gestured and his forces surround me in a circle. "Now what happens?" I asked.

"That depends on you, you can come peacefully and be put in prison, or you can try to fight and be eliminated."

"You don't see me resisting do you?" I replied. "In fact, I've been most cooperative I'd say."

"Put your hood down so I can see your face." He ordered, I did as he said and lowered my hood so he could see me.

"Let me explain-"

"Quiet! I don't want to hear your excuses red scum. Come along and you will keep your life." His men started to close in on me.

"I tried to reason with you, but I can't say I blame you." I said as I opened my player menu and clicked on skills.

"Stop him!" The leader yelled as his men charged me. I hotkeyed The Cutting Edge to the top of the list, so they didn't have a chance. I clicked the icon and dark mist started to waft off of me yet again. His men all attacked at once, but they hit nothing but air. They turned around and saw me standing there holding Miyako. "What?!"

"You wouldn't listen, and I won't fight green players." I said before setting Miyako down and sprinting at top speed and disappearing into the trees and bushes.

I ran around the outside of the town and then directly north of where I met the ALA members. The time limit on The Cutting Edge was about to run out, so I decided to stop for a second and catch my breath. It increased my stamina, but I'm still human. I sat against a large oak tree and downed a water bag's worth of the stuff. I heard footsteps behind me and reached for my weapon, but it was just Miyako catching up to me, just barely panting.

"Now you're just making me look bad." I joked between breaths. "Did we lose them?" She looked at me and panted, seemingly content. "I'll take that as a yes." I said before tossing her a raw steak. She gladly accepted the gift and laid down, tearing at the meat. I rested my head against the tree behind me and feel asleep.

I was awoken by a high-pitched pinging sound coming from in front of me. I looked around and saw that it was dark, so I had to have been sleeping for at least 3 hours. I looked at what was making the pinging noise and saw that I had a message in my inbox. I rubbed my eyes before clicking the floating icon in front of me. The circle expanded into a small rectangle with the following message.

"Is this Lupus Umbra? I heard about you and what you do, and I was wondering if you could help us. We need to do a quest to gather a rare material, but the mobs in the area are too strong. No-one else will help us, and I'm afraid of the rumors of PK'ers in the area. I'm willing to pay handsomely if you were to help keep us safe." There were location coordinates at the bottom of the box. I stood up and woke up Miyako.

"Come on girl, we've got a job to do." She stood up and shook the leaves out of her fur. "First day on the job."

I waited off the trail at the location given to me the day before, waiting for the player who contacted me. Miyako was off patrolling in a 30 yard radius around my position, keeping an eye out for any surprises. I had told them that we either did it at night, or not at all. I didn't want to risk running into any ALA members or The knights of the Blood Oath. I was just about to suspect that it was a trap when the players appeared on the path about 10 yards away. I walked out into the clearing, my hood covering my face. The three players were startled a little, but they soon regained their composure. The one in front was about 5'10" with eye-length black hair and brown eyes with a spear strapped to his back. The player to his right was about 6' with blonde hair the same length and had a greatsword sword strapped to his back. The last one was about 5'8" with short blond hair and blue eyes and had a longsword strapped to his left hip. Miyako walked out of the woods and stood behind them, not making a noise, but making herself known.

"It's a red player!" The tall blonde one exclaimed.

"Are you Lupus Umbra?" The lead player asked hesitantly.

"That depends, who are you?" I replied. He looked at his friends and they gestured for him to answer me.

"Akio." He gestured to the tall one next to him. "...this is Arata…" He pointed at the last of the group. "...and this is Hachiro." I looked at them for a second.

"Then in that case yes, I am Lupus Umbra. Tell me more about why you hired me."

"Why are you a red player?" The tall one asked.

"That's not important, do you want my help or not?" I replied.

"Yes, please. Like I said in my message, we need to collect a rare material for a quest and we're afraid of PK'ers and the monsters around here are too strong."

"What else?" I asked.

"We need to go about two kilometers that way." He pointed to the north-east. "And that's where it's said to have a lot of PK'ers."

"What makes you think I'll help in the event they do show up?"

"The information about you said you were a bodyguard, is that wrong?" I looked them over.

"No, it's not."

"So you'll help?" Hachiro asked.

"Yes, on one condition."

"What condition?" Arata asked me.

"One, Akio, since this is your group, I'll let you call the shots, but if I say to do something it means that there's good reason for it. That means that if I tell you to do something in combat, do it. Two, if Pk'ers show up, don't get involved, let me handle it. Three, I want one fourth of the Col found, and a teleport crystal as payment. If you do all that, I'll help you until the quest is done and we are back in town. Do we have an agreement?" They talked to each other for a second before turning back to me.

"Fine, we agree." Akio said.

"Good, we will move immediately, come on Miyako." I said before turning and walking down the path with Miyako running up to walk beside me, the three jogging to catch up. "You keep walking, I'll keep watch for PK'ers." I said before walking into the trees and bushes with Miyako right behind me. They looked at each other for a second before continuing to walk.

"This guy's kind of weird, he's really mysterious." Arata said.

"There's no reason for anyone to know more about me than what you do right now." I said from a tree branch above their heads. They flinched a little and looked up at me.

"How long have you been up there?" Hachiro asked.

"About ten seconds." I replied. "I realize that I'm keeping watch, but could you be a little more alert please?" I then dropped out of sight behind the underbrush.

"Jeez, this guy is really suspicious." I heard one of them say, but I decided to let it go.

"I'm just happy to have some help. If there's one thing we know about this guy it's that he's definitely a higher level than any of us." These types of conversations continued for a good part of the journey.

The entrance to the cave that served as the dungeon was surrounded in winding, interlocked vines and moss. I finished my inspection of the surrounding area and told the rest of the group that there were no PK'ers in our vicinity. Quick, silent nods were all the response that I received. I waved them on as I led the way into the dimly-lit cavern. I told the others to activate their night-vision abilities, but received an explanation that none of them have leveled up their night-vision and that they would have to use torches to see. To me that was a setback because as one could probably imagine that it's pretty hard to handle a greatsword or a spear with a flaming torch in your hand as well. I let out a quiet sigh, and continued into the cave. I led the way, having them direct me to where we needed to go to find this so-called "rare" ore. There weren't many obstacles that prevented us from getting to the ore, but that in no way means that it was easy to get the damned thing out.

We entered the huge underground cavern that served as the sight to find the ore the others were looking for. So far it seemed like there was no real reason for me to join them on this quest. That didn't last however. As soon as Arata started to swing his pickaxe at the vein a stony hand reached out and slapped the pickaxe out of his hand, sending it flying to the side. Without saying anything I instinctively and quickly readied my weapon, causing Miyako to crouch low to the ground and growl fiercely. Arata backed up and stood with his friends behind me. The golem slowly rose out of the ground, causing the ground under us to shake as large boulders fell off of the golem and his movement to crack the ground near it.

"Stay here, and back me up if I need it." I said calmly to the group as me and Miyako walked toward the stone golem. The golem hesitated, studying us as we approached it. I planned out my moves and let it try to figure us out. Once we were close enough to it the golem sent a stoney arm swinging, aimed at my left shoulder. I ducked under it while wheeling behind it, delivering a series of stabbing strikes to it's under-arm and sides. The rocky monstrosity let out a loud, deep groaning sound as it spun around to retaliate. I jumped over it's arm and used the elevated position to land three well-placed cuts to the place where it's eyes would be, if it had any. It staggered back so I jumped off of it's arm and landed about ten feet away from it. Before it could respond to my assault a black blur pounced at it, digging deep red gashes into it's "head" with razor-sharp claws. The golem released a loud cry of distress as it tried to throw Miyako off of it's now-crippled head. Miyako nimbly leaped off of the creature as I unleashed a devastating series of heavy jabs with my sword. The golem fell to its knees as I delivered the finishing blow, separating its head from its shoulders. As the golem disappeared I heard a cry for help from behind me. I turned around to see a sight that ignited a blazing flame in my head. The others were huddled together in a corner, trying to defend themselves against against another of the golems. I fear to say that I do not entirely remember what happened next, because the next thing I remember is standing in a flurry of shimmering polygons as the others looked at me in a mix of fear and awe. I finally slowed my heavy panting and sheathed my weapons as Akio slowly walked toward me.

"Are you ok?" He asked in a sincerely concerned voice. I nodded, not entirely believing myself. "You kind of lost it there for a second." I looked at the other two and their expressions told the same story. I closed my eyes and sighed a long-exasperated sigh.

"I'm fine, nobody was hurt?" I asked him. He shook his head. "Good, go ahead and get the ore, I'm just gonna rest for a second. He nodded and gestured for Arata. I walked over to the wall and slowly slid down the flat expanse of rock. They said that a player was not supposed to feel physical fatigue in SAO, but I now knew first-hand that even a digital world can not protect someone from psychological wounds and fatigue. I was drifting in and out of consciousness as I leaned against the wall it took so long to gather the rare material. I could hear the others talking about my frenzy-induced "rampage" against the golem and how apparently it was in many pieces even before it despawned. I wondered what could have caused me to lash out without remembering anything. As if I didn't know the answer. I would never watch another person get hurt because I was unable to do anything.

If someone tries to prove me wrong, they'll wish that they had hired me instead.

* * *

Thank you for reading Ch. 18 of The Cutting Edge. I apologize for not updating this story in a very long time. I lost all motivation to write, but after I received an email saying that I had gotten a new follower, I decided that I actually did want to finish writing The Cutting Edge. I have recently read the first three entries in a book series called "The Legend Of Drizzt", and it gave me a lot of inspiration and tricks on how to make my writing better. I do not plan on abandoning this story, and with your continued support I doubt that it will not reach its conclusion. Thank you all for sticking around for so long.


	20. Wolf's Persuit

Author's note: I, Borderlinefreeze, do not own Sword Art Online. SAO belongs to A-1 Pictures, Reki Kawahara, Manga Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Aniplex America. Please enjoy The Cutting Edge.

**Any and all suggestions/questions please email Borderlinefreeze , thank you.**

**Current floor: 1-32**

**Shigeo's level: 43**

**Shigeo's friends list:**

**Ryota- Deceased**

**Noburo- Deceased**

**Akane/Amaya- Deceased**

**Argo- Info Broker**

**Shigeo's equipment:**

**Vendetta**** (One-Handed Sword)(Main weapon)**

**Crisscross (Dagger)(Emergency weapon)**

**Torso: Cloak of Vengeful Souls**

**Arms: Silent Leather ****Arm-wraps**

**Gloves: Hollow Padded Gloves**

**Legs: ****Leg-guards**** of Timeless Comrades**

**Boots: Leather guard of the fallen**

* * *

Ch. 19: Wolf's Pursuit

The wind rushed by my face, the wind and the low-hanging branches that is. I barely felt the stinging leaves however as I closed in on my target. I had received information earlier that day regarding the location of a red player, and I was not about to let them escape. Miyako had gone on ahead of me to try to cut them off, and I had no doubt in my mind that she would accomplish her mission. I heard a loud growling and a girl scream from up ahead, and I knew that I was close. I burst into the clearing that the red player was in, wrestling with Miyako. She threw Miyako off and drew her sword, her cloak covering her face. I drew mine in return and launched an attack at the player. She responded by holding her ground and waiting for me to get closer. Once I swung she lifted her sword at an angle, deflecting my sword out wide. I think that was the first time I had felt the sensation of a blade since the fight with laughing coffin. I ignored the blade and grabbed the girl's arm, lifting her sleeve to check for a laughing coffin tattoo. There it was, the slightly open coffin with a wickedly smiling face on the front and a skeleton hand pushing the lip open. She pulled away, and at the moment I stopped holding back. I rushed the girl, sword skills firing one after another, trying to cut her down before she could retaliate. With some visible work, she deflected all but one of the attacks, and even that was a grazing blow to the shoulder. I stepped back, astounded that she was able to get through my offensive without more damage. I tightened my grip on my sword as Miyako quietly circled around behind the girl.

"What's your name?" I asked her, getting nothing but silence in return. Again I rushed forward, but this time Miyako also attacked the girl's legs. She didn't expect the tag-team assault and felt on her back, but she nimbly rolled backward and rose to her feet. Her stance told me she was a bit more nervous now, but she was not backing down. This time she rushed me. Swords crashed and teeth snapped as Miyako and I defended against her assault. This girl was no amature to fighting other players, but neither was I. I dropped down under her attack and kicked her foot out from under her, landing multiple solid hits before she was able to recover. Her health was now just above the red zone, and mine was still in the low green. "I'll ask one more time. What is your name? I want to know who I'm about to defeat." She rushed again, but I easily side-stepped and landed a deep cut on her stomach. She fell to the ground, and her hood fell off her head. She had slightly pale skin, raven black hair, deep green eyes, red lips, and a small, slightly angular nose. "Emiko?" My mind realed as she stood up and took off into the trees. Miyako started to chase after her, but I called her off. I stood there, trying to figure out what happened to Emiko.

I needed to know why Emiko had joined laughing coffin, that was the only thing I was sure of. Between Miyako and myself I thought we would be able to catch her, but her trail stopped cold. Teleport crystal. I slumped against a tree and tried to think of a reason Emiko could have joined Laughing Coffin. Miyako laid down next to me, sensing my anguish. I absently rested a hand on her back.

"I don't know what to do girl." Miyako looked at me, head cocked. "I never thought I would see Emiko again, let alone like this." Mi loosed a small whimper. "I need answers girl." This time I was answered with an excited bark, followed by an angry growl. I turned around just in time to move my head out of the path of a throwing pick. The pick embedded itself harmlessly into the tree behind my head. On instinct I jumped up, my sword materializing in my hand. I saw three laughing coffin members in black cloaks standing about fifty feet away from me.

"Are you the one that killed the leader of floor 28?" One asked, his voice slightly distorted by a mask he was wearing. I put my hand on my shoulder, stretching the joint in preparation of what was about to happen.

"I would think that you guys would learn to send more than three people from now on." I said, causing one to shift uncomfortably. "But to answer your question, yes I am."

"You have committed crimes against laughing coffin, and for that your life is forfeit." I looked up slightly, as though I was thinking, before looking back at them.

"Yeah, that's not going to work out. You see, I have some questions that I think you could answer, and I don't think that I can ask them if I'm dead." One let out a small laugh.

"And what makes you think that you have a say in the matter?" The tallest of the group asked. His answer came in the form of dark mist flowing off of my body and onto the ground.

"This does." I replied in a tone cold enough to freeze hell itself. "I'll give you a chance, you can have the first move." I stood with my arms spread wide, inviting them in. The shortest one threw another poisoned throwing pick, which I knocked out of the air with my sword. "Ooohh, bad move." I said as I rushed in, faster than the unprepared player could react. One moment he was reaching for another pick, the next he was on the ground, without his throwing arm, or right leg.

"Ah, ahhhhh! They're gone!" He yelled. I bent down and put a finger over his mouth.

"Sh sh sh shh, don't worry, it's a game remember? They'll come back in time." I said in an extremely unsettling joking tone. "Now just wait here for a second, I'll be back with you in a second."

"You bastard!" I heard from behind me, followed by heavy footsteps. Judging from the volume of the noise I was able to tell when he was close, and I rolled out of the way of his attack. I came back up just in time to deflect a wickedly curved scimitar from the tallest player. A simple kick to the stomach sent him back far enough to give me time to defend against the other standing player.

"Get off me you damn dog!" I heard the downed player shout. I turned around to see a teleport crystal laying on the ground about six feet from him, and his remaining arm in a vice of teeth. I could always could on Miyako. I brought my attention back to the real threats. A flurry of steel and limbs insured as health bars dropped. The action luled as the Pk'ers backed away from me as they noticed that my health has still higher than the two of theirs combined.

"Checkmate." I said as I rushed forward, ending the life of the taller player. The last remaining one desperately tried to fight back, but at this point he had no chance against me. I dispatched him as quickly as the other one and smothered the wafting mist around me. Miyako was casually gnawing on the last player's remaining arm. He was trying to pull away, but without his arm or leg on the right side he had no hope of escaping Miyako's unyielding maw. I kneeled down next to him, petting Mi's head. "Good girl." I said as I handed her a portion of squirrel meat, which she gladly gnawed on instead of the player's arm.

"Y- you're a monster." He said to me, I suppressed the urge to end him right then and there.

"Does someone like you really get to say that about me? Because when I look at us, I see us both as red players; the only difference is that I got red from killing a floor leader of laughing coffin. Meanwhile you became red from killing innocent people." He let loose a wicked grin.

"And so what if I did?" My fist clenched as I heard his cocky, gloating voice. "It's survival of the fittest, and they obviously were not the fittest." He started laughing, but was cut off by a hard right fist to the jaw. I grabbed him by the front of his cloak, lifting his face to mine.

"Listen to me very carefully you arrogant son of a bitch, you are going to answer me right now, or you will find out that there are worse things that death, even in here." Even I was surprised when I said that. It was then that I realized what this game had made me, how different I was than the me that was out there somewhere, somewhere outside of this "_game". _ I also knew however, that I would need that darker side of me if I were to survive in this place. When I came back to my senses I realized that something I said must have reached this guy because he actually looked scared. "No doubt that girl just now contacted you, where would she have gone?"

¨I don't know! We have more than one base, she could be at any of them." He replied in a slightly disturbed tone.

"Then I guess you'll have to tell me about all of them."

"Fine, it's not like you'll survive snooping around our bases anyway." And with that he surrendered all that he could give, his information, equipment, and his life.

I knelt concealed outside the perimeter of a camp full of red players, this was obviously a temporary base of operations, and not the kind of place that Emiko would have gone to if she didn't want me to follow. I was about to leave, seeing how I was alone and there was no way that I could single handedly take out this entire camp by myself, but once again fate had another thing planned. When I did turn around instead of seeing the dense forest waiting for me, i found at least 100 Aincrad Liberation Army members waiting with weapons drawn.

"Isn't this some serious Deja vu?" I asked as I recognized the leader of the army. "Are you going to attack me without listening to me again?" The leader doned a look mixing anger, confusion, and annoyance.

"Not this time." He replied before gesturing for his men to lower their weapons. "I don't suppose you have an explanation for why you are waiting outside a base camp for laughing coffin?"

"I was thinking of taking this thing out, but I decided that there were too many of them for me to take by myself." I said in a flat tone. The men in front of me seemed unsure if they believed me.

"That is exactly why we are here, but how did you know of this camp, we have been following these players for months, and it would seem that you found them with little trouble. How did you find the location of this camp?"

"I asked nicely." I said before tossing him the uniform of the player I "talked" to. He caught it before inspecting the laughing coffin symbol on the arm. The rest of the men were taken off guard by the appearance of that cloak.

"So you aren't a part of laughing coffin?" I shook my head. He thought for a second before continuing. "Ok, so you aren't a member, but you are still red." I nodded. "However, you don't seem like the person who kills for no reason."

"The only people I kill are those who kill innocent people."

"So you're some kind of bounty hunter?" The rest of the men seemed disgusted by that, but were more concerned about the fact that Miyako came walking through their ranks to stand by me.

"Minus the money, but yes. I hunt red players, the same way they hunted me and my friends." That made the army in front of me back up a step or two. The leader approached me, and in a quieter tone so that only me and him could hear.

"You say they hunted your friends, but you are alone." I started to say something but he held up a hand, cutting me off. "I can put 2 and 2 together, and I'm sorry about what happened, but I would still like to know why you are red."

"There are some green members of Laughing Coffin, namely the floor leaders." That caused the hulking man in front of me to change his expression from one of distrust to one of elation. He then wrapped his arm around my shoulders and turned to face the army.

"Men, this young man just informed me that he is the one that eliminated the Laughing Coffin floor leader the other day." The people huddled in the small clearing of the forest burst into hushed whispers to each other. "Now, some of you might not believe this boy, but he is going to prove it to you all." I looked up at him in confusion. "Yep, he is going to join us in the assault on that there camp! Now, get your gear together and get prepared, mission go in 10 minutes." He looked over to meet my gaze. "What? You said you couldn't do it alone, plus, you help us with this and the ALA won't be bothering you anymore, your face will be remembered by all of the higher ups, and you might even be able to get some assistance in the future by other members of the guild." He picked his arm up off my shoulders and started making his way over to the rest of the men. "You best get prepared, and maybe try to get to know some of the men, it'll help if you get them to trust you for more than your combat prowess." With that he disappeared amongst the assembly of armor and conversations.

We gathered and formed the ranks in preparation for the battle at hand. The leader, who I learned liked to just be called Colonel, informed me that I would act as recon as well as a main force combatant. They would wait for me to return, or 15 minutes, whichever came first. With that information in mind I took off into the camp. It was dark out, so that was a little comforting, but it is always a little nerve racking to know that you are infiltrating a camp full of people who kill for fun. Most of the camp seemed to be empty, as most of the people in it were sleeping. There was a guard here and there, but not what I would expect from laughing coffin. It was going fine until I rounded a corner and came face to face with a guard. I quickly snapped my hand out, clasping it over his mouth as I grabbed his arm with my free hand. I quickly brought his wrist down on my ascending knee, causing him to drop his sword. I took him to the ground with a few quick motions and used his own sword to dispatch him. I quickly found a place to hide as the bright flash from his death faded. I waited there for a moment to make sure that nobody saw it, then I continued to skirt the perimeter. After successfully avoiding the rest of the guards I made my way back to the rest of the men.

"What's the situation?" Colonel asked me when I got back.

"Most of them are asleep, aside from the occasional guard. The biggest tent in the middle of the camp has the most guards actively watching it. The tents on the outermost perimeter seem to have little to no security. I'd say that if we were quiet and only sent a few people in first we might be able to take out two or three tents before the rest are alerted." Colonel thought about that for a minute before gesturing over to three other soldiers.

"Then those few people will be you, me, and these three." He then turned to the rest. "Once you get the signal, come in full force." They all saluted as Colonel, the other three, and myself made our way toward the camp. The next minute or two were pretty uneventful as we eliminated two tents, but then a guard saw what was happening and as our forces rushed down the hill, the rest of the camp gathered. I gripped Akane's dagger in an icepick grip in my left hand as I drew my sword with my right. I readied myself as the bulk of the camp rushed our forces. The two armies collided with a loud thud of steel against steel, and steel against people. Battle cries were mixed with cries of death, the clash of weapons forming a macabre orchestra of death. I was holding my own, but I was not used to fighting in large groups like the others around me. It took all I had to deflect the flourish of blades flying at me and still be able to do some damage myself. I soon realized however that without the group fighting training that the others around me had that I was more detrimental than anything so I nimbly exited the skirmish that was forming as ranks on both side deteriorated. I then noticed that a dispatchment of LC were trying to flank us, and I made my way over to intercept. There were 6 of them and only one of me, but I knew that if they flanked us they could do serious damage to our ranks. When they were maybe 10 yards away from the main brawl I came from the shadows and stopped then in their tracks. They seemed confused at first because of my red indicator, but they soon realized who I was, and that they wanted me dead. They rushed me and it took both my weapons to keep them from killing me outright. Our battle went on for a while with neither party making much progress. I could hear the noise dying down behind me and knew that we had won. However, Colonel broke off from the rest of the group and was making his way over to me.

"No!" I yelled, stopping him. "You lead the others, I can handle this!" He turned and ran back into the fray, rallying his men. I started to go on the offencive, trying to turn the tide of this back and forth brawl. I managed to create some space and in that time dispatch one of the 6 people who were attacking me furiously. I heard the noise stop behind me, indicating that the camo was ours. I heard footsteps heading our way, but then stop as Colonel ordered them to halt. I dashed backwards, making room as I quickly activated The Cutting Edge. I was moving before the black-purple smog could even appear, sprinting directly at the man farthest in the back of the group. To his credit he was able to block a few attacks, but he just wasn't fast enough to block every attack. I kicked his feet out from under him and finished him with one final attack before turning to the other four. I just barely ducked under the multiple blades aimed at my head before turning and catching one of them in the side. I backed off and waited for them to make a move. Three of the four circled around me before they all charged. With sword and dagger I blocked and parried attack after attack from all sides. Now all combatants had cuts and scratches, some worse than others. I knew that if this lasted much longer The Cutting Edge would run out and I would be very much dead. So before that could happen I dropped to the ground and with one big sweeping leg dropped all of them to the ground. With each arm I put an end to one of them and then as we all stood up I threw Akane's dagger at one of the two remaining people's face, eliminating him from the equation. Just as the last guy and I stared each other down I saw the black mist stop and felt myself become much slower. However, now it was a 1 on 1 and it wouldn't matter as much. I looked at this guy very carefully. Black hair cut short, hazel eyes, and full of hate. I prepared myself for the final skirmish as he slowly walked toward me, more cautious now. I met his advance and we both, in a weird state of understanding, circled each other as we decided how to proceed. I gripped my sword in both hands and cut up from my waist, aiming for his chest. He deflected it and came forward with a quick stab. I reversed the direction of my sword and sent his out wide, following up with a kick to the midsection. He reeled backward and I pursued with multiple quick cuts to various parts of his body; some were blocked, others weren't. He recovered with a few new cuts and a renewed sense of danger. He stopped and waited for me to attack. I did, but not how he was expecting. As he waited for a straightforward charge, he was instead met with a running baseball slide that sent me sliding right in front of him. From there I kicked my legs up, connecting with him straight in the stomach. This sent him into the air a ways and he landed hard on his back. I stood over him and as he tried to cut at me with his weapon I knocked it out of his hands.

"Are you happy now?" He asked me in a surprisingly somber tone, one that was devoid of hate or anger. "You've won, everyone in this camp is now dead because of you and them." He pointed to the rest of the men, who stood in utter amazement. "You claim to be better than us, hell, maybe you are, maybe we did deserve this. But, think about this, every time you do this, you are making sure that even more people don't make it out alive. I realize that this is the pot calling the kettle black, but I want all of you to think about that. If I could do things over, I would change things, but I can't. Now, kill me if you will, I don't judge you for it, like I have the right to anyway." With that he slowly stood up, turned around, and waited.

"We all do things we wish we could change, even though we all know we will regret them later. Die knowing that right now, you are no longer like the rest of them." With that one final strike was delivered, and the person in front of me disappeared forever. I sheathed my sword, picked up my dagger, and walked back to the men. Colonel met me halfway.

"Son, I have many questions, but they can wait. For now I'd like to say that that was the best display of swordsmanship I have ever seen, and I would also like to know your name."

"Shigeo."

"Well Shigeo, if the looks on the rest of these mens' faces are anything to go by, I'd say that you have earned their trust and respect." I looked behind him to see for myself, and after a moment clapping was able to be heard. It grew louder and louder as more and more of the soldiers joined in, quickly growing to a deafening cheer as Colonel planted an ALA flag in the ground in the middle of the camp. He walked back over to me and signaled the rest to quiet down. "Now, I am a man of my word. And I gave my word that you would be remembered as a brave soldier in the eyes of the ALA and would be welcomed with open arms. So now I pose you the offer, would you like to join the ALA?" My eyes widened as he said this, never in my life would I see this turn of events coming about. I opened my mouth to accept, but instead I shook my head.

"I can't, I have to decline." Colonel looked confused at this. "I work better alone, and I need to do this alone. It's my mission, and my revenge." He looked back and the men then back at me.

"I understand. However, nobody should do something like this completely on their own." He held out his hand, a small crystal rested in his palm. "In case you ever need some brothers in arms." I said with a smile.

"Thank you." I said as I took the crystal from him.

"I look forward to the day that we fight by each others' side once again." He held out his hand.

"May that day bring victory to us all." I took his armored hand and gave it a shake. He then turned and returned to the group. They all produced teleport crystals.

"Until next time soldier." He said to me before saluting, the rest joining in.

"Until next time." I replied, mirroring their salute with a rare smile on my face as they disappeared into bright blue light before fading away. I turned and saw Miyako laying on the ground behind me. "Come on girl." We faded into the forest, leaving the empty camp behind.

One down.

* * *

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting in forever, school has been really busy and been busy figuring out college stuff. However, this story is not stopping until the end. I want to thank you for tuning in for yet another chapter in Shigeo's story and for showing your support for this story still even after two years. (I had planned to upload this chapter on the 2 year anniversary, but I forgot.) It means so much to me that people are still reading and looking forward to this even after all this time, you guys have no idea. Thank you all so much.

-Borderlinefreeze


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